e signs
On what seemed like an ordinary day in 2002, Miriam Fraser, just shy of her 30th birthday, suddenly experienced something that changed her life forever. While folding laundry, she started to experience a sharp pain in her left eye. As the day wore on, the pain intensified. By the end of the day, her doctor had a diagnosis: trigeminal neuralgia (TN). She was placed on medication immediately. Trigeminal neuralgia is a chronic pain condition that affects the trigeminal nerve, which carries sensation from the face to the brain. TN is caused by a blood vessel pressing on the nerve near the brain stem. If you have TN, even mild stimulation of your face such as brushing your teeth can trigger excruciating pain. “I am still unable to have a normal life,” says Fraser, who also had microvascular surgery completed to help alleviate her constant pain. “With medication it’s controlled, but eating, drinking or a slight breeze will trigger my pain. Any kind of vibration in a car or plane triggers it. I can’t even exercise.” Because of the pain, Fraser says she’s been isolated in her home for the past few years. When she’s having a good day, she does as much as she can. “I left my job that day in 2002 to see the doctor, but I never thought I wouldn’t return to work,” she says. “The pain isn’t something you can hide. It’s in your face, and it’s in your life.” TN can occur as a result of aging, or it can be related to multiple sclerosis. Some people experience TN due to a brain lesion, surgical injuries, stroke, facial trauma, an abscessed tooth or, in Fraser’s case, nothing at all. “I had no dental damage. But during my surgery in 2012, the neurosurgeon did three nerve compression spots on my brain,” she says. “But in my case, even after the surgery, the pain remained.” Fraser is now managing her pain by medication and through the help of orofacial pain clinical professor Ivonne Hernandez.
UAlberta SMILES 7