Acupuncture increases the effectiveness of pain medications to relieve trigeminal neuralgia. A 2017 face pain research study published in the Shanghai Journal of Acupuncture found that acupuncture boosted pain medication benefits. Specifically, researchers prescribed the pain medication carbamazepine, which had a 70 percent effectiveness rate. Adding acupuncture to the treatment protocol increased the total effective rate to 90.3%.
What is Trigeminal Neuralgia?
Trigeminal neuralgia is a debilitating facial nerve pain condition that affects one side of the face. Some patients have pain along the jawline, others feel it around their nose, and others around the eye. Some will feel pain in all of these areas – it all depends upon which facial nerves are affected.
What is Carbamazepine?
Carbamazepine is a pain medication in the benzodiazepine family. Sold under the trade name Tegretol, carbamazepine is an anticonvulsant medication used primarily to treat epilepsy and nerve pain.
Face Pain Research Design
61 patients participated in the face pain research study. Investigators randomly divided them into an “acupuncture plus drugs” group and a “drugs only” group, with 31 and 30 patients respectively. Inclusion criteria included being diagnosed with trigeminal neuralgia according to the International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICHD-3). All the patients participating in the study experienced frequent, debilitating facial pain attacks.
Exclusion Factors
Patients were excluded from the study if they presented with:
- Heart, liver, or kidney diseases that could affect drug metabolism.
- Infections, ulcers, scars, and other abnormalities at the location of acupuncture points.
- Malignant tumors, blood system diseases, cerebrovascular disorders, and other serious life-threatening conditions.
- Pregnant or lactating women.
Statistical Breakdown of Groups
- Acupuncture Plus Drugs Group – 13 males and 18 females, with an average age of 54 years, and an average course of disease of 4.7 years.
- Drugs Only Group – 12 males and 18 females, with an average age of 59 years, and an average course of disease of 6.6 years.
- There were no significant statistical differences related to gender, age, and course of disease relevant to patient outcome measures.
Medication Treatment
Both groups in this face pain research study received the same drug therapy. The dose of carbamazepine started at 100 mg and increased by 100 mg every day until achieving pain control. The average dose was 400–800 mg per day. The maximum dose was 1200 mg. After reaching the maximum, the dose was gradually decreased to obtain the minimum effective dose. Participants took the medication twice a day for seven days. All patients received four weeks of treatment.
Face Pain Acupuncture Treatment
The primary points selected for acupuncture treatment included:
- Heart point (Auricular)
- Lung point (Auricular)
- Shenmen (Auricular)
- LI20 (Yingxiang)
- EX-HN-22 (Anmian)
- ST36 (Zusanli)
- ST2 (Sibai)
- ST4 (Dicang)
- ST7 (Xiaguan)
- ST44 (Neiting)
- LV3 (Taichong)
- Ashi (tender) points
Practitioners selected additional acupoints on an individual basis.
- For ophthalmic (eye) pain:
- BL2 (Cuanzhu)
- GB14 (Yangbai)
- For maxillary (cheek) pain:
- ST3 (Juliao)
- SI18 (Quanliao)
- For mandibular (mouth) pain:
- CV24 (Chengjiang)
- ST6 (Jiache)
Needle Technique
Upon insertion, practitioners obtained a “deqi” sensation at the site of the needle. This classic TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) technique assures optimal effectiveness of the treatment. Patients received treatments once a day, six days a week. Each treatment course consisted of 6 days, followed by a 1-day break. All patients received four treatment courses.
[Editor’s Note: In the US, we treat patients once a week with fewer total treatments and get excellent results. Typically, 8 – 12 treatments are required to get the results described in this face pain research study. Treating daily with a high number of treatments was common in China’s past and is still observed in some of their research studies, but is not essential for good outcomes.]
Evaluation
Investigators evaluated patients before and after the full treatment course. First, all participants performed Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) assessments before and after their treatments to measure pain intensity. Second, researchers documented pain frequency. Third, they measured quality of life based on the MOS 36-item short-form health survey. Finally, following the completion of treatment, they categorized the efficacy rates for each patient into 4 tiers:
- Recovery: pain stopped and did not recur during a 6 month follow-up period.
- Significantly effective: pain was significantly relieved, and pain frequency was reduced by 75%.
- Effective: pain was relieved, and pain frequency was reduced by 50%.
- Ineffective: no change in pain, and pain frequency was reduced by less than 25%.
Face Pain Research Conclusions
This face pain research indicates that acupuncture plus drug therapy is more effective than drug monotherapy. Carbamazepine monotherapy produced a 70% total effective rate, while acupuncture plus carbamazepine yielded a total effective rate of 90.3%.
Researchers concluded that acupuncture was safe and effective for the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia. An important feature of TCM protocols is that they improve short-term and long-term patient outcomes without causing significant adverse effects.
Next Steps
If you struggle with trigeminal neuralgia or another type of face pain (nerve-related or not), try acupuncture. You’ll know within four treatments if acupuncture is helping. It does for a vast majority of our patients.
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Additional Face Pain Resources
Face Pain Acupuncture Research study.
First Face Pain Acupuncture Case Study.
Second Face Pain Acupuncture Case Study.
Second Trigeminal Neuralgia Acupuncture Research Study.
Trigeminal Neuralgia Acupuncture Case Study.
Reference
Pan ZQ, Fu RY, Lin XM. Clinical Study on Mind-regulating Acupuncture in Treating Primary Trigeminal Neuralgia. Shanghai Journal of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, 2017, 36(9):1069-1073.
Focus Keyphrase: face pain research
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I woke up one morning and started getting these excruciatingly painful shooting electric pains on the left side of my face. My wife took me to the emergency room and they said I had trigeminal neuralgia. They gave me some pain medicine, but a nurse there suggested I try acupuncture. She had this pain once and it was cured by acupuncture. She gave me the name of Raleigh Acupuncture. When I explained the situation they took me in the same day. After just one treatment I started feeling better. They saw me every day for six days, at which point the pain was completely gone. What a life saver. I strongly recommend getting acupuncture for trigeminal neuralgia.