Acupuncture provides significant therapeutic clinical benefits for trigeminal neuralgia patients and shortens the duration of hospitalization. This trigeminal neuralgia acupuncture research concludes that acupuncture significantly reduces and often eliminates face pain induced from trigeminal neuralgia.
What Is Trigeminal Neuralgia?
Trigeminal neuralgia causes intense facial pain. It is a severe facial pain disorder following cranial nerve V. The pain is most often one-sided, stabbing, nerve-like, and unbearable. Daily activities exacerbate the condition, including speaking, chewing, smiling, drinking cold or hot liquids, touch, exposure to cold air, and brushing teeth.
Trigeminal Neuralgia Acupuncture Research
Investigators conducted a controlled experiment comparing the effectiveness of carbamazepine with acupuncture. Carbamazepine is an FDA approved medication for trigeminal neuralgia. It also controls seizures in epileptic patients and mania in bipolar patients.
22 out of 40 patients in the carbamazepine group fully recovered compared to 30 out of 40 patients in the acupuncture group. The results yield a 55% cure rate for carbamazepine and 70% for acupuncture.
Acupuncture Better Than Medication
Acupuncture proved a higher total effective rate than carbamazepine. The total effective rate includes all patient improvements ranging from mild to cured. Carbamazepine produced an 87.50% effective rate, while acupuncture achieved a 95% effective rate.
Based on the findings, the researchers suggest incorporating a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) protocol for patients with trigeminal neuralgia combining both medications and acupuncture in a treatment regimen. They believe this may produce even more significant results than using either modality alone.
More acupuncture research is needed to determine if combining mediations with acupuncture to treat trigeminal neuralgia produces an additive or synergistic effect.
Study Design
The study randomly divided 80 patients with primary stage trigeminal neuralgia into acupuncture and medication groups. The 40 outpatients from the acupuncture group consisted of 16 male and 24 female patients ranging from 45 to 68 years old, having symptoms of approximately nine years.
The carbamazepine group comprised 18 male and 22 female patients ranging from 47 to 69 years old, with an average symptom duration of approximately ten years. Before their treatments, all patients had a full physical examination and head CT scan. All had similar symptoms, including speaking and eating difficulties, significant pain, and face muscle cramping.
Treatment Methods
The medication group patients initially took 100 mg of carbamazepine tablets two times per day. The dosage increased to 4 times a day and expanded according to a patient’s condition. The maximum dose limit was one gram a day. If pain levels significantly reduced with a specific dose range within two days, patients leveled off at 500 – 800 mg a day.
The acupuncture group received sterile, single-use needles at the following acupoints: Tai Yang, LI4, LI7, ST7, Yin Tang, DU20, GB20, and ST6.
Practitioners first applied acupuncture to Tai Yang, followed by ST6 toward the zygomatic arch. Activating the Qi at these two points induced a significant analgesic effect. Next, they needled Bai Hui and Yin Tang, followed by GB20. The last insertions included LI4 and LI7.
Powerful Results
Acupuncture effectively resolved trigeminal neuralgia using this specific treatment procedure. The advantages of acupuncture over carbamazepine include avoiding adverse reactions. Carbamazepine can induce Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis.
Also, acupuncture was clinically more effective than carbamazepine. Notably, the researchers suggest combining medications with acupuncture may produce even more beneficial patient outcomes than therapy separately.
Next Steps
The practitioners at Raleigh Acupuncture have been successfully treating trigeminal neuralgia patients for over 15 years. Treatments are safe, with no adverse effects, and results are long-lasting.
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Acupuncture Resolves Trigeminal Neuralgia
The pain from trigeminal neuralgia is excruciating. And Western medical options are limited. Try acupuncture first, or in combination with medications, and discover how this ancient medical treatment can help resolve your pain.
References
Chen Kepeng, Tian Long. Clinical discussion on treating primary trigeminal neuralgia; Clinical Journal of Chinese Medicine, 2015 (13).
Xia Caiqiu, Xun Xuelian, Liu Shuang, Wang Chunbo, Liu Mingliang. Discussion on primary trigeminal neuralgia treatments; Chinese Journal of Modern Drug Application, 2010 (4).
What our Clients are Saying
My dentist damaged a nerve in my face that triggered terrible trigeminal neuralgia. The pain in my face was way more than 10 out of 10. I could not think, could not work, could not sleep. I truly thought my life was over. But thanks to Raleigh Acupuncture Associates I am 95% better. It took three months of treatment, but it was worth it. My regular doctor had no solution for me. His pain medicine did not work. I tried an $8000 procedure of laser cutting, and that did not work. But acupuncture DID work. I’m telling you, if you have trigeminal neuralgia in your face, come to these guys. I love them!
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.