A couple of days ago, members of the facial pain community observed Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN) Awareness Day for the fifth consecutive year. Every October 7th since 2013, we have turned our Facebook profile pictures teal, shared our personal stories of tribulations and triumphs, posted videos and memes, and raised money for various facial pain endeavors. To the credit of the thousands of you who have supported TN Awareness Day in that half decade, awareness of TN is growing.
However, there is a problem. TN is not the only neuropathic facial pain condition. There is a host of other facial pain conditions that have never been individually recognized or singled out for recognition by any facial pain organization. Because they are so rare, those who have these conditions have had to reside under the umbrella of TN in order to find any community support or recognition. That is, until now.
FPAA is serious about supporting all facial pain patients. We don’t just pay lip service to the inclusivity of the term “facial pain.” By creating Facial Pain Awareness Month, we are proudly giving voice to these other facial pain conditions: geniculate neuralgia, glossopharyngeal neuralgia, anesthesia dolorosa, cluster headache, paroxysmal hemicrania, SUNCT and SUNA.
Please allow me to introduce Geniculate Neuralgia Awareness Day on October 10th. That’s tomorrow!
What is Geniculate Neuralgia?
Geniculate Neuralgia (GN), also known as Ramsay Hunt Syndrome, nervus intermedius neuralgia, and Hunts neuralgia, is a nerve disorder affecting the geniculate ganglion of 7th and 8th cranial nerves. Relatively little is known about GN making it a very infrequently diagnosed disorder. GN is often misdiagnosed as migraine headaches, cluster headaches, or Trigeminal Neuralgia. It is rarely diagnosed independently of an existing diagnosis of TN. There is no estimate of the number of people with GN.
The response to medical treatment for this condition varies between individuals. The long-term outcomes of surgery remain unknown because of limited data.
Social Media Awareness
Click on the image of the overlay of your choice to create a GN Awareness Day social media profile picture.
Or right-click on the image below to save the image for use as a social media profile picture.
