All the literature I've seen, and my doctors say, that TN is not familial or genetic. However, myself, my mom, and my older sister all have it??? I was wondering if anyone else has a family member with TN as well?
Monica,
I have a cousin who has it. But he has had a long period of remission and is doing well. I can’t believe you have had that many family members with the condition. At least they understand what you are going through. What treatments have they tried? There are a few people on this site who have a family member but not many. I think I read something that said there may be a 5% chance of it being familial. I’ll have to dig up that stat. But your are right. Most articles state that it is not familial or genetic. I pray daily that my immediate family and friends do not get it.
Liz
Hi Monica,
My Aunty on my Mum’s side, was dx with TN while she was suffering Ovarian Cancer, but touch wood, so far no others in my immediate family have shown any symptoms and I continue to pray that they do not.
I am so Sorry to read that so many in your family including yourself suffer this monster - I wouldn’t even wish this on my worst enemy…
But you’re right, “most” literature does not include any information regarding familial tn. But like Liz said - there are some articles that discuss it - and 5% is what I also recall as the “statistics” on it. I will try to locate at least one of those articles for you.
Best wishes ~ Kerry.
PS: Here is one link to a journal article: http://www.kma.org.kw/KMJ/Issues/june%202004/Case%20Report/Familial%20Trigeminal%20Neuralg.pdf
I just loaded up google.com and typed in “familial trigeminal neuralgia” there’s thousands of pages. Not all links can be accessed past the abstracts, without great expense in $$. But many articles can still be accessed. I will continue to look for the original journal article I found that states more accurate stats.
Cheers ~ K.
Yes Monica, My Grandmother on my mothers side has TN and it makes me so angry when they say this is not genetic. My grandmother was is her 30’s and so am I when diagnosed.
Sorry to here that you, your mom and sister suffer from this horrible disease. My mom suffers from TN but my sister and myself do not. But I have also heard that it doesn't run in the family. Strange that your family begs to differ. Best wishes that your family finds relief.
Monica there is a lady on this site who has lots of extended family members who also suffer, if you put in heredity into the search engine at the top of the page you may find the link. One school of thought is it could be the pattern of the formation of the blood vessels which cause it to run in families. Hope you your mum and sister are coping and can be a support for each other.
Here’s something to add to a year-old thread. Newly published from Medline Plus at the US National Institutes of Health: “Chronic Pain is Often a Family Affair” … See http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_131467.html
Regards, Red
My mom's identical twin has Type 1, but she was only diagnosed a few years ago. It is also so slight she doesn't take meds anymore. I am 23 and have Type 2. My aunt also believes her father had it but was never diagnosed because of the time period.