Trigeminal Neuralgia

Trigeminal neuralgia is a type of persistent pain that impacts the trigeminal nerve. It is a kind of pain brought on by lesions or injury to the nerves. Trigeminal neuralgia type 1, often known as TN1, is the most common variety and produces abrupt, intense face pain episodes (Raygor et al., 2019). It may hurt for a few seconds or several minutes. Attacks can happen one after the other in cycles that last up to two hours.

Etiology, Presentations, and Differential Diagnoses

The trigeminal nerve, which originates in the ear and extends to the upperface, cheeks, and lower jaw causes trigeminal neuralgia (Cha & Son, 2020). Pain from this illness often only affects one side of the face and can be brought on by activities like eating or tooth cleaning. Trigeminal neuralgia can occasionally worsen, with fewer days without pain as it progresses. It may be confused with a variety of other potential diagnoses that result in facial pain, such as infection, TMJ dysfunction, cluster headaches, and postherpetic neuralgia, which follows shingles.

Typical Diagnostic Work-Up

As there is no particular test for TN, the diagnosis is mostly dependent on the symptoms and pain-related descriptions provided by the patient. To rule out other, more frequent causes of face discomfort, a doctor may inquire about the symptoms and do a dental X-ray (Greve et al., 2020). To determine whether the problem has an underlying cause, an MRI scan might also be requested.

Treatment Plan and Tertiary Prevention Measures

For those with idiopathic and classic TN, pharmaceutical therapy is the initial line of treatment. The anticonvulsant medicine carbamazepine is the most often prescribed drug (Cha & Son, 2020). Trigeminal neuralgia development prevention recommendations are presently unavailable. However, those who already have the illness may be able to avoid episodes and discomfort by keeping track of probable triggers.

Appropriate Referrals/Consultations

Trigeminal neuralgia can be diagnosed and treated initially by a primary care physician, but general neurology consultations may be required to rule out potential secondary causes such as sclerosis, chronic venous insufficiency, and cerebellopontine tumor (Greve et al., 2020). Patients who are resistant to medication therapy should consult with a neurosurgeon or neurovascular surgeon to determine whether microvascular decompression as well as other surgical procedures are necessary.

Considerations Forthe Geriatric Population

Age-related and co-morbid diseases are frequently prevalent in elderly individuals, necessitating polypharmacy. Antiepileptic medications frequently interact with other medications (Raygor et al., 2019). As a result, developing a drug intervention for TN in the elderly that does not alter pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics or raise safety concerns is difficult.

References

Cha, J., & Son, B. (2020). Idiopathic Trigeminal Neuralgia Misdiagnosed as Secondary Trigeminal Neuralgia Caused by Neurogenic Tumor in the Infratemporal Fossa: A Case Report. The Nerve, 6(2), 100–104. https://doi.org/10.21129/nerve.2020.6.2.100

Greve, T., Tonn, J.-C., & Mehrkens, J.-H. (2020). Microvascular decompression for trigeminal neuralgia in the elderly: efficacy and safety. Journal of Neurology, 268(2), 532–540. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-020-10187-w

Raygor, K., Lee, A., & Chang, E. (2019). Idiopathic Trigeminal Neuralgia in the Elderly. Pain Neurosurgery, 9–12. https://doi.org/10.1093/med/9780190887674.003.0002

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Important information for writing discussion questions and participation

Welcome to class

Hello class and welcome to the class and I will be your instructor for this course. This is a -week course and requires a lot of time commitment, organization, and a high level of dedication. Please use the class syllabus to guide you through all the assignments required for the course. I have also attached the classroom policies to this announcement to know your expectations for this course. Please review this document carefully and ask me any questions if you do. You could email me at any time or send me a message via the “message” icon in halo if you need to contact me. I check my email regularly, so you should get a response within 24 hours. If you have not heard from me within 24 hours and need to contact me urgently, please send a follow up text to

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Your initial discussion post should be a minimum of 200 words and response posts should be a minimum of 150 words. Be advised that I grade based on quality and not necessarily the number of words you post. A minimum of TWO references should be used for your initial post. For your response post, you do not need references as personal experiences would count as response posts. If you however cite anything from the literature for your response post, it is required that you cite your reference. You should include a minimum of THREE references for papers in this course. Please note that references should be no more than 5 years old except recommended as a resource for the class. Furthermore, for each discussion board question, you need ONE initial substantive response and TWO substantive responses to either your classmates or your instructor for a total of THREE responses. There are TWO discussion questions each week, hence, you need a total minimum of SIX discussion posts for each week. I usually post a discussion question each week. You could also respond to these as it would count towards your required SIX discussion posts for the week.

I understand this is a lot of information to cover in 5 weeks, however, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13 that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Even in times like this, we are encouraged by God’s word that we have that ability in us to succeed with His strength. I pray that each and every one of you receives strength for this course and life generally as we navigate through this pandemic that is shaking our world today. Relax and enjoy the course!

Hi Class,

Please read through the following information on writing a Discussion question response and participation posts.

Contact me if you have any questions.

Important information on Writing a Discussion Question

Your response needs to be a minimum of 150 words (not including your list of references)
There needs to be at least TWO references with ONE being a peer reviewed professional journal article.
Include in-text citations in your response
Do not include quotes—instead summarize and paraphrase the information
Follow APA-7th edition
Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

Participation –replies to your classmates or instructor

A minimum of 6 responses per week, on at least 3 days of the week.
Each response needs at least ONE reference with citations—best if it is a peer reviewed journal article
Each response needs to be at least 75 words in length (does not include your list of references)
Responses need to be substantive by bringing information to the discussion or further enhance the discussion. Responses of “I agree” or “great post” does not count for the word count.
Follow APA 7th edition
Points will be deducted if the above is not followed
Remember to use and follow APA-7th edition for all weekly assignments, discussion questions, and participation points.
Here are some helpful links
Student paper example
Citing Sources
The Writing Center is a great resource

Trigeminal Neuralgia