Trigeminal Neuralgia Booster

My name is Angela Strenad, I'm a Military Wife and Mother of an amazing pre-schooler, and I am a Trigeminal Neuralgia Warrior.
For me, TN came on without any warning. One day three years ago, I took a shower, brushed my teeth, and my hair, sat down at the computer, and within hours was in the Emergency Room with what felt like a sudden earache and multiple toothaches all at once. Slight lightening like strikes were cascading through my ear and cheek. I was lucky enough to have a knowledgeable doctor that suggested TN as a diagnosis. My PCM however, was skeptical but thorough, listening to my description of the pain, poking my face, and ordered an xray and MRI to rule out Multiple Sclerosis, tumors, and possible Ear, Nose and Throat issues. When these tests came back normal, I got referrals to an Ear Nose and Throat specialist, Dentist and Neurologist. My diagnosis came when I was taken off of Gabapentin and put on Tegretol, often times the only diagnostic tool for TN. My daughter was just over a year old.

When I have a flare, the slightest things cause me serious, searing pain. Brushing my hair or teeth become impossible, chewing food is agony, my own hair drifting across my cheek can send me into tears. There is no kissing my husband, or my daughter. Her voice is like a vibrating knife slicing into my head when she's excited or upset. But the worst thing for me emotionally, is how hard she works to take care not to touch my face, telling everyone we meet that “Mommy's face hurts”. It kills me that at four years old, she feels responsible for explaining to people why I'm barely moving my mouth to talk. She will never remember a time when the right side of my face wasn't off limits.
My daughter is a huge part of the reason why I'm a Trigeminal Neuralgia Warrior, because this doesn't just affect me, it impacts my whole world, my family, my friends, and millions of people world wide like me, some of whom have suffered with TN for decades. Most people aren't diagnosed as quickly as I was, they're told it's sinusitis, or dental issues, or an ear infection. They suffer, untreated sometimes for years, not knowing that a single nerve in their head is causing all this misery and agony.

Given enough time, medications stop working, people build tolerances to treatments, botox injections aren't pleasant, and brain surgeries with the intent to permenantly damage the nerve or widen the tiny hole in the skull this nerve routes through are expensive, come with a laundry list of things that could go wrong, and don't always work. The percentage for a bad result is high, but when it's the only chance for relief people are often willing to gamble. It's nickname is “the suicide disease,” because people get to a point where they cannot suffer for one minute more. There comes a point where it just doesn't get any better.

Please help the Facial Pain Association find better ways to diagnose this horrific disease, discover new treatments for the debilitating pain and work towards a cure for TN and oter Neuropathc Facial Pai disorders b supporting this fund raiser. Better treatments or a cure would save untold lives, and better diagnostics mean people don't have to suffer for as long without knowing why they're in so much pain. Every dollar helps to save lives, families, friendships, and everything that makes life worth living.

For more information about these disorders, the available treatments and how to get help if you think you're affected by these diseases, please read the Frequently Asked Questions and other links through the Facial Pain Association's website:
http://fpa-support.org/frequently-asked-questions/