Trigeminal neuralgia

[zenhead]

i am looking for a general description of ths. i spent a few weeks in the hospital, rehabbing from getting a baclofen pump. while there, i started getting sharp, stabbing headaches. we thought maybe it was from the spinal part of the surgery, or just hospital life in general. we let it go until i got home. i've been home 2 weeks, and the headaches persist. it's not a sinus headache - i've had those before. all the descriptions i can find of this kind of pain are very clinical, so i'm hoping to find someone who has experienced this to offer a first hand description. i did see somewhere that baclofen is sometimes used to treat this, so maybe removing baclofen from my bloodstream (the pump putting it directly into my spinal fluid) has had some effect? any thoughts?

[DrGeoff]

I doubt if your headaches have anything to do with Trigeminal neuralgia.
The Trigeminal nerve has three branches - Optic nerve and two others. One along the lower jaw, and the other across from nose to cheekbone.
Any of these can be painful in the extreme, to the extent that (for example) an air current on the cheek can provoke intense agony.
That is the only one I have had myself, and even the memory of it is painful.
It can also manifest as the general "electric shock" type of neuropathic pain, but along one or more of the Trigeminal nerve branches.
AFAIK, Baclofen is not a main line treatment for TM
Geoff