Does anyone know anything about Trigeminal Deafferentation?
 

I had MVD surgery to remove a benign tumor that was growing from my Trigeminal Nerve back in October 2004. The Neurosurgeon was unable to remove all of it due the damage that would be caused to the nerve. Ever since my surgery I have been numb on my left side of my face (from the top of my head down to my chin). It feels likes pins sticking in my left side of my face all the time, and I have the shooting pains that come and go frequently.
My last MRI showed my tumor was growing again so my Neurosurgeon suggested Novalis, this was back in Feb/Mar 2008. Does anyone know what the symptons of Trigeminal Deafferentation are?
Thanks and God Bless.

The definition from Striking Back, the TN bible is as follows:

"This is pain that occurs when parts of the nerve are injured to the point where they're completely disabled, such as complications from surgeries done to selectively injure the trigeminal nerve in an attempt to treat TN pain, i.e. glycerol injections, rediofrequency lesioning, balloon compressions, neurectomies and the like."

There are several areas of discussion in the book on this topic. If you don't have a copy, you should get one as there is a ton of valuable information in it. It is available from the Trigeminal Neuralgia Asso., listed in the stickies above or just google it. I'm sorry you've got this but welcome you to the forum. Hopefully someone will come along and post their experience with this. I have a mix of bilateral TN1 and TN2, most likely caused by compressions to the nerve.

Take care, Ellena