Trigeminal neuralgia or tic douloureux is also known as the “suicide disease” because the facial pain can be so severe and unrelenting that sufferers have been driven to kill themselves.

This patient was a 28-year-old female diagnosed by her medical doctor with trigeminal neuralgia one month prior to seeing me. She rated her pain as a ten, the worst pain imaginable. The pain was localized on the right side of her face; she got sharp electrical pains when she’d bite down on the right side. Pain medications and gabapentin™ gave no relief with them.

I found sphenoid and temporal on the right and a right side TMJ and palate. C1 and C2 were also adjusted. Nothing else showed up.

She came in two days later rating her pain at a seven instead of a ten. She could also chew her food better. Again, found right side cranials, along with jaw and palate, C1 and C2 needing adjusting.

Three weeks later she came in rating her pain at a zero! She said her pain resolved after the previous adjustment. No cranials showed up that day, and she was released. At a six month follow up she was still pain free. Eight months later she started having some symptoms and made an appointment. That was in April, and at this writing we are almost in December, so I think she has been doing quite well.

I wish I had known this stuff years ago for my previous patient, who has since passed away.