we here at the infographics show
routinely cover the most pressing
scientific questions of our age such as
what would happen if everyone on earth
screamed at the same time or what if
everyone went blind for 10 seconds
occasionally we'd like to get silly and
talk about links love life in the Legend
of Zelda or taunt our favorite guinea
pig by assigning in the most ridiculous
challenges but that's what makes our
channel so fun and while our teams of
world-class researchers historians and
philosophers are often busy finding new
interesting topics to explore we
absolutely love answering questions
directly from you our viewers today
we're going to be answering a question
asked by Khalil who emailed us asking
about the most painful illness known to
man trigeminal neuralgia so let's get to
it
the trigeminal nerve is the fifth
cranial nerve and it's the largest this
nerve is responsible for transmitting
sensory data from the face to the brain
the cause of trigeminal neuralgia is
mostly unknown but many doctors believe
it has to do with compression to the
trigeminal nerve causing chronic
excruciating pain in the face there are
three branches of a nerve where the pain
tends to be located the ophthalmic
located in the forehead the maxillary in
the cheek and the mandibular which is
located in the lower jaw pain typically
starts in the ear and makes its way to
the jaw later the pain can last anywhere
from minutes to hours and sometimes even
days it can make simple mundane tasks
like brushing your teeth shaving or
putting on makeup extremely unbearable
you can't even smile or chew food
without triggering the distress
sometimes even talking is impossible the
average age of diagnosis is between 50
and 80 years old with the majority of
sufferers being women though there are
many patients diagnosed with this
condition who do not fit into this
category one woman named Keisha Bush was
only 25 years old when she was diagnosed
she has been interviewed in
documentaries explaining how she cannot
work or take care of her child because
of the intense pain symptoms of the
disorder tend to be very specific often
described as a sudden onset of severe
pain now when we say severe or
excruciating as it relates to this
condition we are not just putting this
lightly we're referring to the type of
pain that can have you completely
incapacitated people who have gone
through trigeminal neuralgia explained
it as a sharp stabbing shooting almost
indescribable
type of pure agony imagine the sensation
of having needles or even knives driven
into your skull
ouch this pain tends to be electrifying
and usually occurs on predominantly one
side of the face
consistent with the area of the fifth
trigeminal nerve diagnosis of trigeminal
neuralgia can be very easy if you know
what you're looking for and it's usually
based on the history of the patient
which is sufficient enough to determine
this condition as the problem unlike
many other ailments this condition
doesn't typically require the use of
elaborate tests to figure out its
diagnosis in a perfect world the patient
simply points to the part of the face
that's been causing them to distress and
the doctor can simply tell by examining
which area it's coming from
and attributed to the fifth nerve
however this condition is very often
misdiagnosed as dental pain TMJ disorder
or a couple of other similar disorders
with the abbreviation sulfon suna which
tend to involve edema of the eye
lacrimation and nasal congestion
misdiagnosis usually occurs because the
condition is extremely rare with an
incident rate of about 12 cases per
100,000 for this reason many doctors may
not even be aware of the illness so then
how is a condition treated when the
proper diagnosis for it is made doctors
typically refer to the use of an
anticonvulsant a medication normally
given to people who have seizures
specifically the medication known as
carbamazepine is the preferred drug of
choice for trigeminal neuralgia if that
doesn't work doctors may try phenytoin
or gabapentin because we know you're
well versed in the complex names of
pharmaceutical medications and you can
probably pronounce them better than we
can you likely know exactly what they
are another treatment method relates to
neurosurgery which can either be
non-destructive or destructive depending
on the severity non-destructive methods
include microvascular decompression a
fancy term to describe a procedure where
the nerve is separated from the
surrounding arteries or vessels that may
be causing compression the destructive
surgical method which is sometimes
necessary refers to causing purposeful
damage to the trigeminal nerve so that
it can no longer transmit pain signals
the loss of pain signals may sound nice
but it also involves certain
consequences such as loss of other
sensations for instance you may no
longer be able to feel the gentle hand
if a loved one affection
stroking your cheek before surgeries
utilized the patient must have exhausted
all other options and forms of treatment
usually an MRI of the brain must first
be used as well as having a consultation
with a neurosurgeon as you can probably
tell it's an extensive process which can
greatly rack up your medical bill
hopefully you have some good insurance
this disease doesn't always have a
simple fix however and it's often
nicknamed the suicide disease for good
reason as mentioned at the beginning of
this video it is the most painful
condition a human can experience outside
of being externally tortured it can
drive many sufferers to take their own
lives just to escape the enormity of the
awful feeling but it may not be just the
pain that can push people to consider
suicide there may also be certain social
implications for those who don't have
trigeminal neuralgia it may be difficult
to understand why is such an ordeal pain
in the face big deal I go through that
every time I get a root canal or get
punched in the face at my local bar
facial pain may not seem as bad as other
more visible problems so others may not
be able to relate or comprehend why
someone can't function normally or go to
work just because of this kind of
discomfort as a result many sufferers
may be susceptible to ridicule people
around them might say oh you're just
using this as an excuse to not work so
you can lay around to do nothing all day
we here at the infographic she'll would
like to remind everyone that you never
know what someone might be struggling
with unless you've gone through it
yourself so it's best to resist jumping
to judgment if you can still many people
may be critical of other circumstances
which can lead to the negative
connotation of being labeled as lazy if
you don't work even if you have a valid
reason for it so not only our sufferers
of trigeminal neuralgia undergoing
severe pain but they may also feel
hopeless and useless with their
situation along with the additional
effects of the negative social stigma
surrounding them if you know anyone with
this condition be kind perhaps
understanding the extent of their pain
will help you become more sympathetic of
what they're going through Phil and
freaked out after that still in the mood
for more then we've got just the thing
for you go watch the most painful animal
attacks humans could ever endure right
now compare it to trigeminal neuralgia
and tell us what you think is worse in
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