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Acupuncture for Trigeminal Neuralgia 针灸治疗三叉神经痛

Acupuncture for Trigeminal Neuralgia - the Facial Nerve Pain 针灸治疗面部神经痛

You may have suffered chronic pain on your face. It is a shooting pain and similar to an electric shock on your face. The pain is severe and excruciating. Your doctor told you that you are having trigeminal neuralgia. 

So, What is Trigeminal neuralgia?

Trigeminal neuralgia is the facial nerve pain –  the trigeminal nerve pain.

Trigeminal nerve is the nerve within the brain. It is responsible for the sensation of your face to brain, and the movement of bitting and chewing.

Face nerve pain - trigeminal neuralgia

Trigeminal nerve distributionTrigeminal nerve has three branches located on the face and response for the corresponding area (see the image).

Neuralgia

Neuralgia means nerve pain. It is a severe pain. The pain can be stabbing, sharp, burning. Trigeminal neuralgia is one of the common nerve pain on face.

Onset

Trigeminal neuralgia is commonly affect middle aged or elderly patients. The common age of trigeminal neuralgia is 40 year old. Women suffers more than men. It is more common on the right hand side of face.

Main symptoms

The main symptoms of trigeminal neuralgia include:

  • Sudden onset of severe pain from one point on your face, mouth or jaw;
  • The pain is a cutting, burning, stabbing or electric shock-like pain;
  • Pain can be triggered by talking, eating, washing, or brushing teeth;
  • The pain normally lasts from a few seconds to a couple of minutes;
  • With the disease progressively getting worse, pain can be severer and the onset can be more frequent. There is less pain at night;

Because there is no sign before pain attacks, you may feel very anxious and be afraid of talking, brushing teeth, eating.

Other symptoms and signs

Your mouth may deviated to one side due to pain and spastic twitching of facial muscles. In the early stages of trigeminal neuralgia, it’s common to have flushed face, red eyes, teary and running nose.

Sometimes you may try to rub cheeks to ease the pain, by doing so you have rough skin on the face, and sparse eyebrow.

What causes my trigeminal neuralgia?

The exact cause is not known. It may caused by

  • Physical compression of the trigeminal nerve – inflammation or impairment of the nerve, or
  • Some underlying condition that affects the nerve

It could be a blood vessel pressing on the trigeminal nerve where it meets brainstem. Other causes including multiple sclerosis or tumor compressing the trigeminal nerve. It is not uncommon for people to have trigeminal neuralgia after some dental work on the teeth. 

Medical Treatment

If no underlying conditions are found your doctor may prescribe some drug for the pain. They are generally anti-convulsants. They stop your brain to feel the pain, however usually doesn’t stop the pain from happening. 

Can Chinese medicine acupuncture help?

Traditionally acupuncture and Chinese medicine have been used for facial pain. They are alternative natural approaches for facial nerve pain.

Chinese medicine explanation of trigeminal neuralgia

  • Exterior wind invasion
  • Internal wind
  • Qi and blood stagnation

What treatment involved?

Acupuncture – Traditional acupuncture or electro-acupuncture may be used during your treatment.

Chinese herbal medicine – Depends on the severity of the pain,  and frequency of onset, your practitioner may suggest some Chinese herbs for you.

Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine may help

  • Relieve pain – There are a few researches showed that acupuncture may reduce the pain from trigeminal neuralgia. Depends on the distribution of the nerve pain, we may choose different acupuncture points.
  • Improve energy and sleep;
  • Reduce emotional stress from and the cause of pain.

Is acupuncture painful?

You rarely feel the pain. Sometime you may feel a little dull ache or slightly tingling sensation. It is actually relaxing.

Is acupuncture safe on may face?

If performed by well trained practitioner, there is rarely any adverse effect of acupuncture for trigeminal neuralgia.

We only single-used disposable needles at all time.

How many sessions and how frequent of acupuncture do I need for trigeminal neuralgia?

It varies from different people.

In our practice after a few sessions (average 5) many people may have significant improvement already.

Frequency of treatment:  At the beginning you may need twice per week treatment for a couple of weeks. Once the pain is better, you may need only once per week or fortnightly, until you are much better. We then move to once per month for a maintenance care, or you can stop treatment totally if there is no more pain for a few weeks. 

Reference

Michelle C,etc. Acupuncture treatment for idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia: A longitudinal case-control double blinded study. Chinese Journal of Integrative Medicine, November 2017, Volume 23, Issue 11, pp 829–836

Liu H, etc. A systematic review on acupuncture for trigeminal neuralgia, Altern Ther Health Med. 2010 Nov-Dec;16(6):30-5.

Tapan K, etc. Effect of Acupuncture in Trigeminal Neuralgia. Medical AcupunctureVol. 20, No. 4 ORIGINAL PAPERS

Your acupuncturist

Dr. Richard Zeng Acupuncturist

Dr. Richard Zeng (TCM)

Available at: 

Coburg: Wednesday, Saturday

Ringwood: Tuesday, Friday

Dr. Tracey Byrne (TCM)

Dr. Tracey Byrne (TCM)

Available at: 

Coburg: Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday

Dr. Ruby Hou (TCM)

Dr. Ruby Hou (TCM)

Available at: 

Ringwood: Wednesday, Saturday

Coburg: Monday, Friday

Dr. Mira An TCM

Dr. Mira An (TCM)

Available at:

Ringwood: Sunday

什么是三叉神经痛?

三叉神经痛是来自面部三叉神经的疼痛。三叉神经为大脑颅神经的一种。它在面部有三个分支,分别负责脸部相应区域的感觉,以及咀嚼咬动等运动。其疼痛剧烈,可以是刺痛、锐痛、灼热痛等。

发作

三叉神经痛通常影响中年或老年患者。三叉神经痛的常见年龄是40岁。女人比男人更痛苦。多见于右侧脸。

主要症状

三叉神经痛的主要症状包括:

面部、嘴巴或下巴的某一点突然出现剧烈疼痛;

疼痛为刀割、灼烧、刺伤或电击样疼痛;

说话、吃饭、洗漱或刷牙会引发疼痛;

疼痛通常持续几秒钟到几分钟;

随着疾病逐渐恶化,疼痛可能会更严重并且发作可能会更频繁。夜间疼痛较少;

因为在疼痛发作之前没有任何迹象,你可能会感到紧张焦虑,害怕说话、刷牙、吃饭。

其他症状和体征

由于面部肌肉的疼痛和痉挛性抽搐,您的嘴可能会偏向一侧。在三叉神经痛的早期阶段,通常会出现脸红、眼睛发红、流泪和流鼻涕。有时您可能会尝试揉脸颊以减轻疼痛,这样做会使您的脸上皮肤粗糙,眉毛稀疏。

什么导致三叉神经痛?

确切原因尚不清楚。它可能是由三叉神经的物理压迫导致神经炎症或损伤,或一些影响神经的潜在疾病 – 比如说某条血管压迫与脑干相交的三叉神经。其他原因包括多发性硬化症或肿瘤压迫三叉神经。在对牙齿进行一些治疗处理之后,患上三叉神经痛的情况并不少见。

药物治疗

如果没有潜在疾病,医生可能会开一些止痛药。它们通常是抗惊厥药。这些药可阻止大脑感受疼痛,但却不会阻止疼痛的发生。

中医针灸有用吗?

传统上,针灸和中药已用于面部疼痛。它们是面部神经疼痛的替代自然方法。

三叉神经痛的中医治疗?

针灸 – 治疗期间可能会使用传统针灸或电针。

中药 – 根据疼痛的严重程度和发作频率,您的医生可能会为您推荐一些中药。

针灸和中药可能有帮助:

缓解疼痛——很多研究表明针灸可以缓解甚至治愈三叉神经痛。

改善精力和睡眠;

减少来自疼痛和疼痛原因的情绪压力。

针灸痛吗?

针灸很少会有疼痛。有时可能会有一些轻微刺痛或酸胀感。整个针灸治疗的过程其实上是很让人放松的。

脸上扎针安全吗?

由训练有素的针灸师为您治疗很少会有副作用,而且我们永远只使用一次性针灸针。

针灸多久一次?总共需要多少次?

这个因人而异。在我们的诊疗中,仅仅几次(平均 5 次)治疗后,许多人就已经有了明显改善。

开始时可能需要每周两次治疗,10次为一疗程。疼痛好转后,每周或每两周只需要一次,直到您好转为止。然后我们改为每月一次进行维护治疗。

如果几周内不再疼痛,您可以完全停止治疗。

Want fast pain relief for your facial pain?

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