Trigeminal neuralgia: a difficult diagnosis to make

Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is an uncommon neurological disorder of the trigeminal nerve and causes unilateral facial pain, which is described as electric shock-like and severe. The pain lasts from seconds to minutes and quick successive bursts of pain can occur up to 70 times a day (Zakrzewska and Linskey, 2014). There can be periods of complete pain remission lasting weeks, months or sometimes years. But these gradually become shorter and shorter, and sufferers live in constant fear of another severe attack of debilitating pain (Zakrzewska and Linskey, 2014). Any light touch to trigger points on the face or facial movement such as eating, talking, smiling or kissing, washing the face or brushing the teeth can provoke an attack. The pain can severely interfere with activities of daily living (Tolle et al, 2006; Zakrzewska et al, 2017) and even lead to suicide when sufferers cannot cope with the pain (Zakrzewska, 2006).