Originally Posted by Ambika

Hello. I have had CRPS/RSD for 34 years, during which the nerve pain has spread throughout my body. I was finally diagnosed 6 years ago. About a year ago, I developed severe TN following a sinus infection. I went to see a great doctor, a specialist in Physiatry and Pain Management. He gave me a Lidocaine solution (I think it was 3%) and had me fill a prescription for it as well. He also gave me some long cotton swabs and asked me to pick up more at the drugstore. Not every drugstore has them. I found them online They are about 6" long with a cotton swab on one end. My doctor explained how I should use the swabs and lidocaine solution. He told me to dip the swab into the lidocaine solution, lie down flat on my back, and then introduce the swab into the nostril on the painful/TN side of my face at a perpendicular (90 degree) angle to my face (not at all the same as aiming to put the swab UP my nostril. He explained that I should do this gently and that I would feel the swab come to a stop at a place where it will feel like the swab has reached an end point in the canal. However, there is a 'door' in this spot. If one has kept the swab at the all important 90 degree/perpendicular angle to the face (when lying down, the swab should be pointing up to the ceiling), then one can continue pushing the swab forward. The 'door' at the seeming end of the nostril canal opens and the swab slides through. Let the swab stay in that position while it numbs the trigeminal nerve. Now, I don't recommend you trying this on your own, without physician supervision first. What I do recommend is phoning up pain management specialists and/or physiatrists and asking if they are familiar with this technique. It is so simple. So easy. I did it 3 times the first day and had immediate relief. The second day, I did the procedure 3 times again. On the
third day, I did it twice. After that, I stopped. I was completely free of TN. Somehow, anesthetizing the trigeminal nerve, stops the pain signaling and allows the nerve to relax and heal. I hope you and everyone tormented by the pain of TN learns this simple and effective treatment. I doubt a neurologist would know about it. However, a really good pain management specialist and/or physiatrist should know it. Unfortunately for anyone with a medical problem, all doctors are not alike. They are people first - doctors second. Like all people, some are excel at what they do, some are medium good and some are ignorant, incompetent, rude, etc. So, my recommendation to find a good Physiatrist or Pain Management specialist is qualified by another recommendation - to search for a good one and begin by finding out if they are familiar with the procedure I described before wasting your time and money going to a doctor who will either not know or not care or both. By the way, the doctor who gave me this simple and effective treatment served on 16 Olympic teams and directed one of the country's foremost Pain Management Centers at a University Hospital. His credentials are impressive. His colleagues are impressive. He is tops technically, at the forefront of his twin specialties. Most importantly, the simple and easy treatment he gave me for TN is NOT SURGERY.