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Trigeminal Neuralgia During Sleep
Author(s) -
Devor Marshall,
Wood Irene,
Sharav Yair,
Zakrzewska Joanna M.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
pain practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1533-2500
pISSN - 1530-7085
DOI - 10.1111/j.1533-2500.2008.00214.x
Subject(s) - trigeminal neuralgia , medicine , sleep (system call) , anesthesia , neuralgia , neuropathic pain , computer science , operating system
▪ Abstract: Pain paroxysms in trigeminal neuralgia (TN) are sudden and extremely intense. Nonetheless, many clinicians who treat TN report that patients are rarely if ever awakened at night by pain attacks. If true, this observation is important as it implies the presence of a powerful sleep protective mechanism. We queried TN patients and their habitual sleep partners about painful awakenings and discovered that such awakenings are in fact quite common. As during the day, pain paroxysms during sleep are typically induced by natural stimuli at TN trigger points. Brief attacks sometimes occur without frankly awakening the patient, but they appear nonetheless to be painful. ▪