Craig R. DuBois, M.D.
The Pain Evaluation & Treatment Center
7307 Creekbluff Drive
Austin, TX 78750
512-346-6969
http://www.paineval.net/our_physicians.nxg
Transcript: Do I have MS?
One issue that gets raised sometimes is “Do I have Multiple Sclerosis?” A patient will come in and they will have read about it on the Internet or talked to somebody. Multiple Sclerosis or MS as it’s called does cause trigeminal neuralgia in some patients. It’s very unusual. It’s probably a handful of people in any doctor’s experience but it does happen.
The key that I think of MS when somebody comes in and they’ve got bilateral meaning both sides have trigeminal neuralgia. That’s not typical for trigeminal neuralgia. MS is more common to have the two things we think of when somebody has two sides involved is MS and what’s called Sarchoid, another condition that can affect these cranial nerves with what we call lesions or plaques of some form. What it is these are conditions that will affect various or different areas of the body whereas the traditional concept of trigeminal neuralgia is not affecting both sides.
So I think it is useful for patients to understand that some physicians that they see may not recognize to look for MS or Sarchoid or tumors or AVM’s when you have bilateral condition of trigeminal pain. Otherwise, is it likely to be MS? Nope - not that common.