The triple nerve refers to the fifth pair of cranial nerves providing sensitivity and movement in the face and oral cavity. The area of ??the orbital and maxillary branches performs sensitive functions, the mandibular branch is mixed, there are sensitive and motor fibers of the chewing musculature. It is the trigeminal nerve that provides the surface and deep sensitivity of the face, allowing you to feel pain, touch and pressure.

Causes.

The causes of pain in the area of ??the projection of the trigeminal nerve are numerous. Usually, pain is associated with irritation of its trunk or one of the branches as a result of close contact of the artery and vein with the nerve at the base of the skull where they come out. There may also be pain as a result of squeezing the branches of the nerve with a tumor, the development of multiple sclerosis, which leads to the destruction of the nerve shell. Allocate central and peripheral factors. To the central include pain paroxysms by type of hypothalamic, epileptic, dysphoria. Sharp pain, lasting a few seconds and spontaneously stopping. Such neuralgia is considered as a variant of epilepsy.

The peripheral include:.

idiopathic neuralgia, of unknown origin,.

primary neuralgia as a result of infectious, herpetic and toxic lesions, allergic and vascular influences, irritation or compression of the nerve trunk with an aneurysm, vascular malformation.

secondary neuralgia, this is the occurrence of pain with dental pain, ENT organs, cervical spine, due to multiple sclerosis, trauma, tumors.

Manifestations.

The main signs and symptoms of trigeminal neuralgia are short-term pains, but always extremely strong, local and unilateral, in the area of ??the affected nerve branch. Patients describe pain as attacks starting with an electric shock, reach a peak in 10-20 seconds and last for a while. Then they subside. Attacks can be from once a day to several per hour.

Attacks of pain accompany vegetative symptoms - lacrimation, uncontrolled flow of saliva, reddening of a part of the face. Painful symptoms can be triggered by touching certain points of the face, shaving, make-up, brushing teeth or chewing food, talking. If there is a lesion of the mandibular branch of the trigeminal nerve, there are symptoms of motor disorders - atrophy, spasms or muscle twitching on the face. Symptoms of secondary neuralgia depend on the level of the lesion, the specific cause and strength of the lesion.

The course of neuralgia can be prolonged.

The periods of remission alternate with exacerbations, and the duration of light intervals is individual.

Diagnostics.

Usually, the diagnosis is made clinically, on the basis of patient complaints and an external neurological examination. Instrumental diagnosis consists in conducting an MRI with detection of a tumor, lesions of sclerosis, changes in blood vessels. In secondary neuralgia, consultations of a dentist, an ENT and other specialists.

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