Trigeminal-Neuralgia Books

As a chiropractor I was fascinated at the wide array of treatments explored for this debilitating condition. The chapter on upper cervical chiropractic vindicated what many chiropractors have found with patients who respond to this specialty form of chiropractic. After actually meeting him in Australia, I was amazed to discover that Dr Casey is one of the most prominent neurosurgical specialists, carrying out thousands of successful surgeries on TN sufferers. A must for sufferers and supportive network members, who are looking for "whatever works" and not just what your average doctor might believe.

Patients with TN face the challenges of finding reliable information and figuring out which of many medications, surgical procedures and alternative therapies are likely to eradicate or relieve their pain. The neurosurgeon(Casey)and patient(weigel) provide up-to-date guidence for patients and their families. This book completed at the end of 2004 is twice the old edition...a totally new book filled with real life patient experiences,therapies, practical illustrations...Outstanding, Understandable, Guide to Resources.

excellent book, regularly updated on the medical and surgical therapies available for those who suffer from this horrendous pain.
For a personl perspective I recommend Carol Jay Levy's A PAINED LIFE, a chronic pain journey.

When I was first diagnosed with TN, I was confused by a deluge of information. Weigel gently guides the reader through well-presented discussion of the neurological disorder and its treatments, both medical and alternative. A good choice for anyone who has or knows someone with trigeminal neuralgia.

This book took me to Dr. Casey in Pgh and saved my life. It explained there were other alternatives than to live with the terrible pain. I have bought 4 copies of this book and have given it to people that are dealing with TN, as well as loaned out my copy. I feel the author knows how much help he has been as he also suffers from the condition.

Sally Murphy,
Punxsutanwey, PA

This is an excellent book and easy to read. It is especially good for those with chronic severe pain and for those who have friends suffering from this so they can know how to relate and help. It is put together well so you can take a chapter at a time and think about it. God is the answer and you learn this. This was the only good book I found about dealing specifically with trigeminal neuralgia, but it would help someone who had other types of chronic pain.

I've suffered with pain and numbness following a car accident 2 years ago. Recovery has been difficult and made all the more frustrating by not being able to fully communicate what I'm feeling to those around me. This book encouraged me in the spiritual struggle that often accompanies physical pain, but more than that, gave me a resource to share with family and friends. I would recommend it to anyone who is struggling with pain and to the people who care about and for them!

An inspirational book for anyone who has any type of chronic pain. After reading this book, I bought it to give as a gift. It is easy to read.

It is with great pleasure and clear conscience that I recommend this book (With Great Mercy)! I have spent several years of suffering from different types of ailments and could relate fully with the authors struggles and battles on her way to healing! The words leaped off the pages as I read them! They were telling my own story in so many ways! I am sure that anyone who has suffered or is now suffering from disabilities or ailments will find this book both rewarding and uplifting! The words are words of hope and love in spite of the anger and questions that arise from such excruciating pain! When I read this book I realized on every page that the one on whom I depend is there through every storm and trial! The message that Jesus cares and is still healing is vividly portrayed on every page! Through the authors trials and heartaches, my own life was in vivid color before me! I thank God for the life of the author and how she has unselfishly shared it with us! I highly recommend this book for a heartwarming and intriguing read! It will be well worth the effort and time spent with it!

This book is an awesome read, and I hope that I can convey how profitable and riveting a read the book is. It is the story of God moving on behalf of one of His children, the author. She is a Christian who suffered with acute and excruciating pain for seven years from a neurological disorder. The pain was debilitating. Somehow, with great courage, she resolved to get a hold of God and not turn Him loose until she received her healing. It is an amazing and compelling journey that reaches its apex with her healing, a demonstration of God's great mercy. It's a story of faith and support from a loving family even in the darkest and cruelest of hours. If you have a physical or emotional problem, or perhaps both, this is a must read book for you. If you are interested in how faith interacts and intersects with God's designs then I encourage you to read it at once. This isn't abstract or esoteric writing; it is the language of where the rubber meets the pavement. The book has a prophetic and didactic voice, and I can't recommend it enough. I sincerely commend it and anticipate that God will use it to strengthen and bless the reader with His great mercy.

This book is excellent in its overview of TN and treatments, therapies and surgeries.
My book, A Pained Life, is resourced in this book however the trigeminal neuralgia association has called it "unapproved". They have refused to state why specifically. Some have suggested it is because I suffered severe disfigurement from an MVD, a surgery that is nicknamed "The Jannetta Procedure" after the man who helped to perfect it and who is on the medical advisory board.
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Both these books have been recommended for TN patients for their general information and for a personal look inside the life of a TN sufferer.

I have TN and right before I went for my MVD surgery, I studied this book like the TN bible. While my MVD experience was a true nightmare to say the least, this book helped me understand what was going to be done while I got this surgery. I developed another neuralgia from the MVD, and this book went into detail about that one as well.
If you or someone you love has facial pain, especially TN, then this book is a must have.

This book is extremely well written in an easy to read format. The author is welcome in my home anytime. If you have just discovered Trigeminal Neuralgia you now have hope in the fact that the head pain you have been feeling for a long time is not a figment of your imagination as all your friends have been telling you. It is real and there is hope. Search the web for more information. Print and study it all.Later as your pain changes you will want to look at the data or this book in a new light. Most of the determining relief of pain factor comes from finding out what will work for you. There are support groups in all major cities and a National Association "Trigeminal Neuralgia Association" In Gainsville Florida with a National Conference in November 2004. Call me if you have any problem getting a book or finding someone to talk to about your pain. Brian Nelson bnelson@PartyTentCity.com 713-467-3025, Link to my TN friendly learning siteon www.PartyTentCity.com .Buy this book and you can't go wrong.

After a very long and harsh battle with TN, I have overcome the atypical category of face pain. This book must be available and should circulate. The information will help you find ways to combat this terrible disorder. If you are having problems contact the TN association at www.tna.org for more information. Even if you have to leave the State you live in-the adventures and research are worth it. Find, read, and pass this book around!!!!

I have been researching this with my mother who has TN and we went to look for this very book only to find used copies for sale for four times that of the book for sale BY THE TNA itself! I consider this shameful and akin to profitting from people's misfortune and pain as when a Natural disaster happens. Don't pay these prices! Get it directly from the TNA at www.tna-support.org

For treatment information and patient experience overviews this is a very good book. If you are looking for one person's story of life with trigeminal neuralgia and the personal day to day struggles to overcome it I recommend Carol Jay Levy's A PAINED LIFE, a chronic pain journey, characterized by the American Chronic Pain Association as "hard to put down." and by Stephen Hall, A NY Times magazine writer, as "A fascinating story, honestly told and courageously lived."

This book provides a comprehensive summary on many options for the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia. I found it to be very useful in understanding the condition. Highly recommended!

In one book, Dr. Zak has created a treasury of practical information for people with trigeminal neuralgia, neuropathic facial pain, and anesthesia dolorosa. From cover to cover, this book is full of practical hints about pain management and facts about diagnosis and causes of neuralgia, medications, surgical treatments and more. Recent statistics about surgical procedures are included. What I like most of all about Insights is that Dr. Zak presents psycho-social information about living with facial pain. Readers will find that they are not alone, but that they have much in common with other people who have facial pain. Truly insightful!

This is exceedinlgy helpful information and it is nice to have it compiled in one place.
I would also like to recommend the book - A Pained Life, a chronic pain journey,(ISBN 1-4134-0609-2)- which goes to the next step; a first person account of what it is like, struggling day to day, treatment to treatment and the emotional toll and fight for acceptance from others, family and medical community.

As anyone knows who has TN, there is always an answer to a problem around the corner. I thought this book would have some of those answers waiting for me. Instead it is a research guide to finding your way through the maze of scientific date concerning this curious and painful malady. Somewhat disapointing, but then again it really is a research tool. In that respect it provides a considerable amount of data all in one place.

I have suffered with this disease for over 20 years and this (plus a book called Striking Back - which I just also found) have the most accurate description of symptoms and treatment of this disease. Extremely helpful for patient and friends and family members who don't understand the disease and are at a loss to know what to do to help.
I was amazed that the description of the pain that I have given friends and doctors for years is the exact same wording for the pain used in this book.
It gives a person with the disease information on doctors, meds, treatments etc. and hope knowing someone out there is doing something to help. Buy this book if you have the disease or care about someone who does.

I read this book and found it interestinig in learning about the world of neurosurgery.
Another book, 1-4134-0609-2, A Pained Life, a chronic pain journey, tells about one patient's experience with the disorder Trigeminal Neuralgia. This is the pain problem that Dr. Jannetta's surgery is for. The author of Pained Life was operated on by Dr. Jannetta, along with other doctors, and tells of her personal encounter with him and others.

Shelton writes as an outsider - albeit, as a science journalist, a very informed one - looking in on the world of neurosurgery. Specifically, he looks in on the world of neurosurgeon, Peter Jannetta.

Jannetta is a bold, charismatic man who has made his name despite detractors and carved out a subspeciality where others had failed to do so. Based on a few subtle observations, Jannetta revitalised a theory of microsurgical decompression for cranial nerve disorders such as trigeminal neuralgia, a condition of excruciating facial pain that drives some sufferers to suicide. Jannetta, against the tide of opinion, chose to go into tiger country at the cerebellopontine angle deep within the brain and lift tiny, sometimes microscopic, vessels away from the nerve and hold them away with small pieces of fluff. Established contemporary neurosurgeons were largely up in arms that a young upstart resident would perform potentially dangerous surgery when a safer alternative (of destroying the nerve distally) existed. Jannetta, with charm, stubbornness and unshakable self-belief held onto his view and over a period of years forced his procedure to be accepted. Sheldon documents his persistance with admiration and recognition of the historical context of this work.

In explaining this neurosurgeon's world, Sheldon explains to those on the outside the terminology, anatomy, clinical process and US referral system. Although his explaining these things in explicit detail slows the pace at times, it is probably better that he occasionally bores a few cognoscenti than baffles or alienates the lay reader.

In the best part and heart of the book, Sheldon has been invited into the inner circle and in his apparent shadowing of Jannetta, has built up a brilliant picture of a brain surgeon's daily work. Sheldon describes conferences, tutorials and closed-door morbidity and mortality meetings in an engaging and intriguing way. With the vitality of Jannetta central to the story, it is an entertaining coffee- and cigarette-fuelled rollercoaster ride. Sheldon has crammed a vivid personality, a packed daily schedule and the painful experiences and desperate histories of patients into a powerfully-told, brilliantly-painted portrait.

In the brain-book genre, this is most similar to A Scapel's Edge, describing another neurosurgeon (whom, I think, specialised in aneurysm surgery), rather than When the Air Hits the Brain, or the general surgery based Complications, which were written by surgeons themselves rather than journalist observers. Whilst probably not stealing the podium from my favourite brain-book, this is certainly an intriguing, enlightening, and most importantly, entertaining read.


dr_sasp

Incidentally, I got my copy from books4u2enjoy. It arrived quickly, long before the predicted date: one week from USA to UK. I was slightly disappointed in the condition, as it was a bit bent and faded - not the very good condition that I had purchased. Nevertheless, to read a rare book, I'd recommend that you go through Amazon and buy it from one of the linked sites, as, like this one shows, the books are usually well worth a read.

Mr. Shelton has written a well researched book. I find it specifically interesting in the fact that the doctor, Dr. Jannetta, allows the author a glimpse into the admitted as well as the often unadmitted; the surgical practice of "ghost surgery". (I no longer have the book so I may be wrong about page citiation but I believe it is approximately page 252.) The author relates an anecdote told by a resident about the time he wanted to operate on a woman with a brain tumor who had just given birth. Although Dr. Jannetta at first tells the resident not to operate because of the potential danger to the patient the resident persists and Dr. Jannetta relents. The author goes on to tell how the patient died and Dr. Jannetta, who had not been in either the O.R. or the hospital, comes in in the middle of the night to commiserate with his resident. It is not often, if ever, that a doctor admits publicly that he, by his actions, endorses 'ghost surgery'. This book gives the reader an entry into an often secretive and closed world. Neurosurgery seems to be the most highly regarded, feared and unknown of the medical specialties. For anyone curious about the life of a neurosurgeon, this is one of the books I would recommend.

This is a good book but the downside is that it is a testimony to one particular treatment
For many people chiropractic is not an option or this form has not helped them.
If you want to know what the day to day life experience with 'tic' is like and the experience with most of the surgeries and procedures out there, including a brain implant. I would like to recommend A Pained Life.

This book details the author's journey through trigeminal neuralgia (TN, better known as the suicide disease in medical journals.) After 12 years of hopeless search for an escape hatch, the author discovered Upper Cervical Care. Eleven days later, he was free of the symptoms that had made him decide on suicide as his escape means.

He explains why he believes UC Care works, then attaches testimonies from other people in the rear to validate UC Care for other problems. He says that UC Care has successfully helped other conditions like autism,fibromyalgia, migraine headaches, Menieres disease, SIDS, female problems, infertility, painful problems, IBS, bedwetting, etc.

Barry Sessle is notorious here in Toronto for doing painful research on cats for almost 30 years! He also does pain research on "awake" monkeys. You might want to consider the reliability and ethicality of someone who does this kind of work before buying this book.