The Terminology Surrounding Type II Trigeminal Neuralgia, or Atypical Trigeminal Neuralgia

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Hello friends,

Any of you who read the material I post, probably know the three subjects for which I try my best to help spread consciousness:

  1. Type II Trigeminal Neuralgia

  2. There is a need to de-stigmatize the usage of opiates, if necessary, to treat Trigeminal Neuralgia.

  3. Atypical Facial Pain is not Type II Trigeminal Neuralgia a/k/a Atypical Trigeminal Neuralgia.

The first and third of these causes are the reason why I wanted to permanently attach a link to this page to mine in the form of a blog.

I answered a question last night posed by a fellow member, basically asking me why I cared what ATN was called, perhaps insinuating that it is all semantics. I proceeded to give a long, emotional explanation as to why I felt that this term should never be used. Today, I remembered this link, and please note the quote taken from the link following below, as well.

http://www.nationalpainfoundation.org/articles/820/definitions

“Atypical facial pain is a confusing term and should never be used to describe patients with trigeminal neuralgia or trigeminal neuropathic pain. Strictly speaking, AFP is classified as a “somatiform pain disorder”; this is a psychological diagnosis that should be confirmed by a skilled pain psychologist. Patients with the diagnosis of AFP have no identifiable underlying physical cause for the pain. The pain is usually constant, described as aching or burning, and often affects both sides of the face (this is almost never the case in patients with trigeminal neuralgia). The pain frequently involves areas of the head, face, and neck that are outside the sensory territories that are supplied by the trigeminal nerve. It is important to correctly identify patients with AFP since the treatment for this is strictly medical. Surgical procedures are not indicated for atypical facial pain.”

Now, I do not agree, as I have been told by a reliable source that there are no existing studies validating the existence of “Atypical Facial Pain”, that the term should exist. However, if that term “Atypical Facial Pain” is to be used, in the interest of patients receiving care appropriate to their condition, it should never ever be confused with Atypical Trigeminal Neuralgia, or as I prefer to call it Type II Trigeminal Neuralgia.

I prefer this term due to the fact that in the while studying medical terminology in the process of becoming a Medical Transcriptionist in what seems now to be “The Stone Age”, I picked up on some things.

Atypical - unusual (this is what I have a small problem with)
Trigeminal - the nerve affected
Neuralgia - the prefix of this word means that it refers to a nerve, and the suffix “algia”, meaning pain.

So, pain of the Trigeminal Nerve.

Type II TN makes the most sense to me, though, because just because our symptoms are differ from Type I, what makes them “Atypical”? That was a serious question.

It is the first couple of sentences contained in the quote above the line in this post which make the most sense to me. If physicians out there call Type II TN Atypical Trigeminal Neuralgia "Atypical Facial Pain, they may as well be calling apples “oranges”. They may not treat the conditoin seriously, and therefore not treat it like the life-wrecking, monster of a malady that it can be.

ATN is serious stuff. It has robbed so many of so much. Let’s at least call this monster by it’s right name, so it can be taken as the serious health probem that it is, I say!!!

Sending out best wishes to all.

Your friend,

Stef