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Trigeminal neuralgia is BBC Health Focus topic
25 February 2010
Janice McArthur, who has trigeminal neuralgia, talks about her condition on the BBC website's Health Focus this week.
In a 4-minute video interview, she describes episodes of trigeminal neuralgia as "lightning strikes" of pain, and explains how she first found out about the condition, how it was treated and how it affected her day to day life.
What is trigeminal neuralgia?
Trigeminal neuralgia is chronic nerve pain which occurs at the side of the face, in one or more branches of the trigeminal nerve.
The pain usually only affects one side of the face. It can be felt on the skin or in the mouth and teeth. It comes and goes suddenly and unpredictably.
Words often used to describe this sort of pain are: stabbing, lacerating, electric shock-like and shooting, and it can range in severity from a mild to a violent and excruciating pain. Each burst of pain lasts for only a few seconds, but there can be many of these bursts of pain in quick succession.
It is estimated that one in every 1,000 people may be affected by or have had trigeminal neuralgia.
Find out more
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