Jason Sheehan, M.D., Ph.D.
Department of Neurological Surgery
University of Virginia Health Sciences Center
Box 800212
Charlottesville, VA 22908
434-924-8129
http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/neurosurgery/faculty/sheehan.cfm
Transcript: Is the trigeminal neuralgia diagnosis always right?
When patients come to see a specialist, particularly a neurosurgeon or neurologist, and have been billed as having trigeminal neuralgia, it’s important for patients to know that trigeminal neuralgia is oftentimes used certainly in the lay community and even in the general medical profession as a catch-all phrase and that in fact there are a number of different and far more complicated pain disorders that can mimic or be perhaps misconstrued as trigeminal neuralgia.
Trigeminal neuralgia and other pain disorders oftentimes can be treated with very similar tools but it’s important that the correct diagnosis be made and if it is trigeminal neuralgia or some other sort of pain disorder, it’s critical that a specialist with expertise in the area really has the ability to take your history and to exam you and to make the correct diagnosis before offering the appropriate treatment options.