rockin'robin
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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Imagine a disease so painful that a quarter of people who have it commit suicide. One Jacksonville woman lived with the pain for more than three years.
Ronda McPherson says the pain was so bad that she couldn't work, brush her teeth or even run.
"I started having some pain in my jaw and I thought it was a toothache," said McPherson.
But that toothache Ronda McPherson thought she had turned into something much worse.
"It kind of felt like somebody was stabbing me with a knife," she said.
She suffered from trigeminal neuralgia, known as the 'Suicide Disease' – 27 percent of sufferers kill themselves because they are unable to bear the pain.
"If you don't get some relief...it would be more than you would want to live with," McPherson said.
It's caused when a blood vessel impinges on the 5th nerve in the brain sending lightning bolt-like jabs of pain in the face.
"I wasn't able to work. I wasn't able to walk. I wasn't able to eat," she said.
The pain had Ronda dropping to her knees.
Not only that, she couldn't run – her passion.
However, Ronda has found hope in a minimally invasive brain surgery performed by a surgeon in Los Angeles, Hrayr Shahinian, M.D. of the Skull Base Institute.
Dr. Shahinian makes a small dime size incision behind the ear, then, using endoscopic instruments of his own design, he places a Teflon disc to buffer the nerve from the blood vessel and patients are discharged from the hospital the next day.
The old approach to surgery required making a large "C" shaped incision behind the ear, manipulating a delicate area between the Cerebellum and brain stem to locate the specific location in question and then moving the blood vessel from the nerve. This approach requires months of recovery time and oftentimes the condition will reoccur.
Ronda was discharged the day after surgery – no more pain – and she's hoping to tie her laces and run once more.
"I'm just hoping to get back to normal," McPherson said.
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/story/life/2015/04/12/suicide-disease-relief/25676193/
Ronda McPherson says the pain was so bad that she couldn't work, brush her teeth or even run.
"I started having some pain in my jaw and I thought it was a toothache," said McPherson.
But that toothache Ronda McPherson thought she had turned into something much worse.
"It kind of felt like somebody was stabbing me with a knife," she said.
She suffered from trigeminal neuralgia, known as the 'Suicide Disease' – 27 percent of sufferers kill themselves because they are unable to bear the pain.
"If you don't get some relief...it would be more than you would want to live with," McPherson said.
It's caused when a blood vessel impinges on the 5th nerve in the brain sending lightning bolt-like jabs of pain in the face.
"I wasn't able to work. I wasn't able to walk. I wasn't able to eat," she said.
The pain had Ronda dropping to her knees.
Not only that, she couldn't run – her passion.
However, Ronda has found hope in a minimally invasive brain surgery performed by a surgeon in Los Angeles, Hrayr Shahinian, M.D. of the Skull Base Institute.
Dr. Shahinian makes a small dime size incision behind the ear, then, using endoscopic instruments of his own design, he places a Teflon disc to buffer the nerve from the blood vessel and patients are discharged from the hospital the next day.
The old approach to surgery required making a large "C" shaped incision behind the ear, manipulating a delicate area between the Cerebellum and brain stem to locate the specific location in question and then moving the blood vessel from the nerve. This approach requires months of recovery time and oftentimes the condition will reoccur.
Ronda was discharged the day after surgery – no more pain – and she's hoping to tie her laces and run once more.
"I'm just hoping to get back to normal," McPherson said.
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/story/life/2015/04/12/suicide-disease-relief/25676193/
