Invisible, Intractable Pain Gets a Voice

Transgeminal neuralgia feels "like a hot rod being stabbed in your eye while your face is being burned off with chemicals," as Miranda Kirsch said in a recent Vice article about this life altering, but often invisible condition. It is an incurable neurological disorder of a nerve in your face. The medical treatments often severely impact the lifestyle of patients. The surgical treatments have higher than desired failure rates.

In the article other people with this disorder discussed the shadow of living with the "suicide disease", and the implications of that nomenclature. We must be sensitive in what we choose to name something in the media and in private. Imagine the weight of living under the banner of, the "suicide disease" versus its real name, "trigeminal neuralgia". Imagine the anxiety of having your boss look at you and see you as normal on the outside, but suicidal on the inside.

Public health education begins when you are brave enough to share the story of your condition with a wide audience. Thank you, sufferers of trigeminal neuralgia, for allowing others step into your shoes. You have helped many with your vivid and expressive words.

What It's Like to Live with One of the World's Most Painful Disorders - Áine Pennello in Vice.