Getting correctly diagnosed with trigeminal neuralgia is, for many people, a long, painful and frustrating business. Little training is given about it in medical school – my GP told me that he had had perhaps ten minutes teaching on TN in a lecture on neurological conditions back in his first year of training. This isn’t…
Tag: pain
Trigeminal Neuralgia: Myths and Misunderstandings
7th October is an important day for people with Trigeminal Neuralgia. It is the international awareness day. People will be wearing teal t-shirts, getting buildings to glam up with teal lights, sharing facebook pics of teal ribbons and TN facts. This year I’ve decided to unpick some of the myths that exist about the condition.…
Triggers & Tips: How to Live Better with Trigeminal Neuralgia
I bought a chest-of-drawers recently, from a local op shop (thrift shop/charity shop). The wood was in pretty good nick – sturdy and solid. But it had a sad, tired paint job – chipped, peeling, and the wrong colour scheme for our bedroom. The other day I got busy in the garage with the sandpaper,…
All the Little Extras: Quirks of Trigeminal Neuralgia
When I’m busy on a writing project, particularly if it’s poetry or fiction, one of my favourite things to do is go to a local cafe and spend a couple of hours with a couple of cappucinos and my tablet. Most of my writing time is spent at home, in a quiet room overlooking the…
Rundown on a Rare Disease
Today was a lucky day. I found a four-leafed clover. Our garden was a farm paddock before they put a road and houses here, and if we don’t keep the lawn under control it swiftly reverts to type and the clover runs rampant. It’s the first time I found a four-leafed clover – despite hunting…
Watching the Birdies
Our avian wildlife put on quite a show for us on Friday morning. We keep a bag of birdseed by the front door, and every morning pour handfuls of it on the fence outside our dining-room window, so we can watch the birds foraging while we eat breakfast. We always see a swarm of squabbling…
Learning to Live With It
It’s the middle of winter here in New Zealand, and we’re already seeing signs of new life all around. It’s a gorgeous, sunny day today so I’ve just had a traipse through my garden. It’s heaving with welcome signs of spring, like the purple flowers starting to put out their spears on the hebe shrub,…
Sounds of Silence: TN and Tinnitus
Silence is golden – or so it’s said. I wouldn’t know. I always thought silence was a utopian exaggeration. An absence of ambient sounds with plenty of space for background noise to make itself known. A fantasy state dreamed up by children-should-be-seen-and-not-heard types as an excuse to punish children who took the ‘seen’ part of…
Distractions & Diversions
There’s a change in the air. The tropical, coconut lemony smell of summer has faded. The air is thinner, clearer. Last week, the air was thick enough to wrap around us like a blanket – now it’s more like a filmy sheer curtain, with a window behind it letting in an uncomfortable draught. Most days…
Getting a Slice of the Cake
Change. A single, soft-spoken syllable. Yet it’s a powerful little creature, reaching into every corner of our lives. Sometimes it’s an invitation – welcome and exciting. Sometimes it’s a burden – disruptive and frightening. It’s a bundle of contradictions: progress and retreat, secret and flamboyant, havoc and harmony. It can bounce into our lives with the…
