Causes and symptoms of Trigeminal Neuralgia

One of the twelve cranial head nerves, Trigeminal nerve is the supplier to the upper eye lid and the lower chin. A disorder of this nerve supply causes facial pain and headache, the symptoms of which are classified as Trigeminal Neuralgia.  The nerve disorder is also known as tic douloureux.

Causes of Trigeminal Neuralgia

Although no clear cut reasons for the symptoms of nerve disorder have been suggested but physicians suggest the following possible reasons.

1. Physicians are of the belief that the symptoms of the nerve disorder start to appear when the nerves passing through the openings of the skulls to the face, get subjected to shocking changes. This causes demyelination of the nerve cell. Demyelination is the term used to describe the compression of the cell as a result of loss of conductive coating over the cells. This exposes the nerve fibres to irritation or pain as a result of compression by other larger nerves or blood vessels.
2. Biochemical changes in the nerve cells might also be the cause of pain and facial nerve disorder.
3. Doctors also suggest that the facial nerves get compressed by an abnormally sized blood vessel. This causes damage of the nerve cells leading to pain and some times inflammation.
4. Clinical tests conducted at the period of extreme pain suggest that the Trigeminal Neuralgia symptoms are caused when the inner nerve fibres of the cranial nerve, called axon, gets damaged due to trauma or shock.

Symptoms of Trigeminal Neuralgia

The syndrome of Trigeminal Neuralgia can be identified by the following symptoms.

1. The syndrome has small trigger zones on the face, like the cheek, nose and the lip that when stimulated causes a typical explosion of pain. This trigger might be caused due to any of he following stimulations-
1. A slight touch to the trigger zone.
2. Eating and chewing processes also subject the nerve to trigger off pain.
3. Common routine activities like washing face, brushing, talking etc.
4. Adverse weather conditions like windy and cold weather or very hot weather with loo hitting the face.
2. The syndrome has several related health implications. For example the short burst of pain makes people stop taking food and this leads to malnutrition, weight loss and dehydration.
3. The bursts of pain become unbearable but in the periods between the pain, patients remain pain free. A slight continuous aching has however been reported by many patients.

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