Trigeminal Neuralgia, A Simple Guide To The Condition, Diagnosis, Treatment And Related Conditions

By Kenneth Kee

Trigeminal Neuralgia

This elderly gentleman had this condition on the right side of his face for about 12 years
He was on constant painkillers.
The pain was so bad that he had to ask an ENT surgeon to cut off the branch of the nerve that leads to his nose and lip about 10 years ago.
After the surgery, there was no pain for 3 years though he has a bit of facial muscle droop.
However the pain recurred after the third year of surgery.
This time he did not want surgery because of the cost and also because the recurrence occurred even with surgery.
There was also the side effect of a drooped facial muscle.
He was seeing instead a neurologist and his pain was relieved not totally with pain killers and a nerve pain drug called tegretol.
However he had some gastric problem because of the strong pain killer.
Hearing about my injection for osteoarthritis and rheumatism, he came to consult me.
I told him that the injection only worked with joint pain and not nerve pain.
In his case he needed an injection which will kill the nerve.
In those days there was no Botox injection which could kill the nerve.
So what I used was (as recommended by an old medical book) surgical spirit.
This was mixed with a local anesthetic and injection was done into the nerve branch between the nose and lips.
There was a slight droop of the face after the nerve was injected.
Together with some painkiller, antacid and his Tegretol, the pain was reduced considerably.
Each time there was recurrence of pain another injection was given.
He had a total of 4 injections of the surgical spirit before the pain disappeared completely.
He comes to see me together with his wife for rheumatic pain but not for the nerve pain.
Nowadays the new aesthetic or cosmetic physician will probably inject him with Botox which can cost a few thousand dollars.
Sometime an old method worked equally well.

Trigeminal Neuralgia is a medical disorder that presents as the sudden lightning paroxysms of pain along the fifth cranial nerve.
It is due to pressure on the trigeminal nerve by tumor and trauma.
It is an infrequent condition affecting more women than men.
It is more frequent at the age of 60 years and above
MRI of brain is done to exclude a rare mass lesion or abnormal vessel pressing on the nerve roots.
Treatment is with anticonvulsants and muscle relaxants or radiofrequency ablation or division of nerve branch
Trigeminal Neuralgia is not life threatening
TABLE OF CONTENT
Introduction
Chapter 1 Trigeminal Neuralgia
Chapter 2 Causes
Chapter 3 Symptoms
Chapter 4 Diagnosis
Chapter 5 Treatment
Chapter 6 Prognosis
Chapter 7 Intercostal Neuralgia
Chapter 8 Shingles
Epilogue

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kenneth Kee
• Release date: Oct 3, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370023059

Kenneth Kee

Medical doctor since 1972.Started Kee Clinic in 1974 at 15 Holland Dr #03-102, relocated to 36 Holland Dr #01-10 in 2009.Did my M.Sc (Health Management ) in 1991 and Ph.D (Healthcare Administration) in 1993.Dr Kenneth Kee is still working as a family doctor at the age of 74However he has reduced his consultation hours to 3 hours in the morning and 2 hours inthe afternoon.He first started writing free blogs on medical disorders seen in the clinic in 2007 on http://kennethkee.blogspot.com.His purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of his patients which is also his dissertation for his Ph.D (Healthcare Administration). He then wrote an autobiography account of his journey as a medical student to family doctor on his other blog http://afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.comThis autobiography account “A Family Doctor’s Tale” was combined with his early “A Simple Guide to Medical Disorders” into a new Wordpress Blog “A Family Doctor’s Tale” on http://ken-med.com.From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 1000 eBooks.He apologized for typos and spelling mistakes in his earlier books.He will endeavor to improve the writing in futures.Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple.For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients.The later books go into more details of medical disorders.He has published 1000 eBooks on various subjects on health, 1 autobiography of his medical journey, another on the autobiography of a Cancer survivor, 2 children stories and one how to study for his nephew and grand-daughter.The purpose of these simple guides is to educate patient on health disorders and not meant as textbooks.He does not do any night duty since 2000 ever since Dr Tan had his second stroke.His clinic is now relocated to the Buona Vista Community Centre.The 2 units of his original clinic are being demolished to make way for a new Shopping Mall.He is now doing some blogging and internet surfing (bulletin boards since the 1980's) startingwith the Apple computer and going to PC.The entire PC is upgraded by himself from XT to the present Pentium duo core.The present Intel i7 CPU is out of reach at the moment because the CPU is still expensive.He is also into DIY changing his own toilet cistern and other electric appliance.His hunger for knowledge has not abated and he is a lifelong learner.The children have all grown up and there are 2 grandchildren who are even more technically advanced than the grandfather where mobile phones are concerned.This book is taken from some of the many articles in his blog (now with 740 posts) A Family Doctor’s Tale.Dr Kee is the author of:"A Family Doctor's Tale""Life Lessons Learned From The Study And Practice Of Medicine""Case Notes From A Family Doctor"

Book preview

Trigeminal Neuralgia,

A

Simple

Guide

To

The Condition,

Diagnosis,

Treatment

And

Related Conditions

By

Dr Kenneth Kee

M.B.,B.S. (Singapore)

Ph.D (Healthcare Administration)

Copyright Kenneth Kee 2015 Smashwords Edition

Published by Kenneth Kee at Smashwords.com

Dedication

This book is dedicated

To my wife Dorothy

And my children

Carolyn, Grace

And Kelvin

This book describes the Trigeminal Neuralgia, Diagnosis, Treatment and Related Conditions or in vernacular terms

(What You need to treat Trigeminal Neuralgia)

This eBook is licensed for the personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader.

If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Introduction

I have been writing medical articles for my blog http://kennethkee.blogspot.com (A Simple Guide to Medical Condition) for the benefit of my patients since 2007.

My purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of my patients.

Health Education was also my dissertation for my Ph.D (Healthcare Administration).

I then wrote an autobiolographical account of his journey as a medical student to family doctor on his other blog http://afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.com.

This autobiolographical account A Family Doctor’s Tale was combined with my early A Simple Guide to Medical Conditions into a new Wordpress Blog A Family Doctor’s Tale on http://kenkee481.wordpress.com.

From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 600 amazon kindle books and some into Smashwords.com eBooks.

Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple.

For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients.

The later books go into more details of medical conditions.

The first chapter is always from my earlier blogs which unfortunately tends to have typos and spelling mistakes.

Since 2013, I have tried to improve my spelling and writing.

As I tried to bring you the latest information about a condition or illness by reading the latest journals both online and offline, I find that I am learning more and improving on my own medical knowledge in diagnosis and treatment for my patients.

Just by writing all these simple guides I find that I have learned a lot from your reviews (good or bad), criticism and advice.

I am sorry for the repetitions in these simple guides as the second chapters onwards have new information as compared to my first chapter taken from my blog.

I also find repetition definitely help me and maybe some readers to remember the facts in the books more easily.

I apologize if these repetitions are irritating to some readers.

Chapter 1

Trigeminal Neuralgia

This elderly gentleman had this condition on the right side of his face for about 12 years

He was on constant painkillers.

The pain was so bad that he had to ask an ENT surgeon to cut off the branch of the nerve that leads to his nose and lip about 10 years ago.

After the surgery, there was no pain for 3 years though he has a bit of facial muscle droop.

However the pain recurred after the third year of surgery.

This time he did not want surgery because of the cost and also because the recurrence occurred even with surgery.

There was also the side effect of a drooped facial muscle.

He was seeing instead a neurologist and his pain was relieved not totally with pain killers and a nerve pain drug called tegretol.

However he had some gastric problem because of the strong pain killer.

Hearing about my injection for osteoarthritis and rheumatism, he came to consult me.

I told him that the injection only worked with joint pain and not nerve pain.

In his case he needed an injection which will kill the nerve.

In those days there was no Botox injection which could kill the nerve.

So what I used was (as recommended by an old medical book) surgical spirit.

This was mixed with a local anesthetic and injection was done into the nerve branch between the nose and lips.

There was a slight droop of the face after the nerve was injected.

Together with some painkiller, antacid and his Tegretol, the pain was reduced considerably.

Each time there was recurrence of pain another injection was given.

He had a total of 4 injections of the surgical spirit before the pain disappeared completely.

He comes to see me together with