What is Living with Facial Pain?
Living with Facial Pain is a dedicated patient-to-patient support community for families affected by Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN) and Glossopharyngeal neuralgia (GPN). Living with Facial Pain Patients Support Community is powered by BensFriends.org, a network of patient support communities for rare diseases, and is run by volunteer moderators who have been affected with Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN) and Glossopharyngeal neuralgia (GPN). condition.
Who can join Living with Facial Pain?
If your family has been affected by Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN) and Glossopharyngeal neuralgia (GPN), consider Living with Facial Pain your second home. Living with Facial Pain, as well as the rest of BensFriends.org’s patient communities, is free for members to join.
What is Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN)?
Trigeminal neuralgia (TN), also known as tic douloureux, is a type of chronic pain disorder that involves sudden, severe facial pain. It affects the trigeminal nerve, or fifth cranial nerve, which provides feeling and nerve signaling to many parts of the head and face. TN is a type of neuropathic pain, typically caused by a nerve injury or nerve lesion.
What is Glossopharyngeal neuralgia (GPN)?
Glossopharyngeal neuralgia (GPN) is a rare condition that affects the glossopharyngeal nerve, which lies deep within the neck. GPN causes episodes of severe stabbing pain in the throat, tongue and ears. These excruciating bouts last anywhere from several seconds to a few minutes. Some people have multiple episodes in a day, others experience them every few days or weeks. The pain intensity and features of GPN are similar to that of trigeminal neuralgia, a nerve disorder affecting the face.
GPN is often caused by a blood vessel, tumor or other tissue compressing the glossopharyngeal nerve. In many cases, however, there is no clear cause. Most patients are in their 50s, although the condition can develop at any age.
What is BensFriends.org?
In 2007, Ben Muñoz suffered a rare form of stroke caused by an AVM. He was unable to find the support he needed during the most difficult time, so he created an online support community AVMSurvivors.org to connect with others like him. AVMSurvivors.org led to the founding of BensFriends.org, driven to provide patient-to-patient support communities for people living with rare diseases.
BensFriends.org is a network of patient communities for people living with rare diseases. Launched in November 2007, BensFriends.org provides valuable patient support by creating and running compassionate, responsive communities. BensFriends.org maintains dozens of patient communities and has changed thousands of lives.
You can learn more about BensFriends.org at http://www.bensfriends.org or watch one of our videos at http://www.youtube.com/BensFriendsVideos.