Hi Everyone.
I have suffered with TN for many years and find this site a great way to get info etc. A friend of mine called me to tell me she has been diagnosed with a Facial Neuralgia resulting from having a cold sore. it is not postherpethic but she cannot recall the name. Has anyone heard of this please?
There is speculation in some medical circles that the Herpes Simplex I virus may be implicated in some cases of TN. That variety of Herpes causes cold sores. However, the medical evidence is not entirely in with respect to this presumed cause. In medical circles, this variant of facial neuralgia might be imprecisely called "Trigeminal Neuropathic Pain of Herpetic Origin", as distinct from "Post Herpetic Neuralgia" attributed to the Shingles virus, Herpes Zoster.
Interesting thought. Have any further studies been done on this?
My mother and I, have been the only ones in the family to have the cold sores. I basically grew up having them. She had once told me that the virus is somehow in a area of the brain, and something (as stress, chapped lips,or a cold) just triggers it, every now and then. Mom was far from medically knowledgeable. but I think she had read about it in magazines or something. We both had taken Lysine (just a herbal thing) which helped them dry up faster. Over the past years, they haven't appeared on my lips, as they did before - just in the nose.
What is a coincidence perhaps??? The cold sores had stopped a few years back, and I have a small one in my nose now - which happens to be a week after having the MVD. Are those viruses both help within that same nerve? So, when I have had the pain - I didn't have the cold sores.
I had just thought to look it up, and get some input on it, I hope.