Acupuncture for Trigeminal Neuralgia

How Chinese medicine understands trigeminal neuralgia

Chinese medicine groups trigeminal neuralgia under “face pain”. The pain is sudden, severe and comes and goes, which in this system points to Wind, and it follows the paths of the Stomach, Large Intestine and Gallbladder channels across the face.

The common patterns are:

• Wind-Cold. Attacks are set off or made worse by cold air and wind, and warmth eases them.
• Stomach Fire or Liver Fire. Burning, intense pain, often with a red face, thirst, irritability, constipation or a bitter taste. Stress, alcohol and spicy food can bring attacks on.
• Blood stasis. Long-standing, fixed, stabbing pain in the same place, sometimes after dental work or an injury.
• Yin deficiency with rising heat. Pain worse with fatigue and at night, with a dry mouth and poor sleep, more often in older people.

The pattern changes what the treatment does. Clearing heat from an overactive pattern is different from warming a cold one or nourishing a depleted one.

What treatment involves

Trigeminal neuralgia needs a diagnosis and treatment plan from your doctor or neurologist. Acupuncture is support alongside that care, and your medicines stay as prescribed.

Your first visit includes a lot of questions: where the pain runs, what sets it off, what your doctor has found and prescribed, and your general health. I look at your tongue and take your pulse.

Acupuncture commonly uses points on the hands, feet and neck, and on the face only as far as you are comfortable. I treat the whole body at every treatment, not only the area that hurts. Treatment aims to ease the pain and the tension and poor sleep that come with living in fear of the next attack. Depending on the pattern, Chinese herbal medicine may add a formula written for you and dispensed at the clinic in Keswick. Tell your doctor and pharmacist about any herbs, as they need to know what you take alongside your medicines.

Plan on 5–10 treatments to judge progress.

Between visits

• Keep a trigger diary. Note what set off each attack: cold, chewing, talking, touch. It helps you and your doctor.
• Protect your face from cold wind with a scarf in winter, and keep car vents off your face.
• Eat soft, lukewarm food during a flare, and chew on the less painful side.
• Use lukewarm water to wash and to rinse your mouth.
• Take your medicines as prescribed, and report side effects to your doctor rather than stopping.

When to see your doctor first

Face pain like this must be diagnosed by a doctor. See your doctor promptly, before starting treatment, if:

• You have numbness, tingling or weakness in the face, not only pain.
• The pain is on both sides, or is constant rather than in attacks.
• You are under 40, or have other nerve symptoms such as vision changes, numbness elsewhere or balance problems. These can point to multiple sclerosis or another cause.
• You have hearing loss, ringing in one ear or dizziness along with the pain.

Get help urgently, the same day, for eye pain or any loss of vision. Call 911 for sudden facial drooping, weakness, slurred speech or a sudden, severe headache.

If the pain is affecting your mood, or you have thoughts of harming yourself, call or text 9-8-8 in Canada, or 911.