It is the 4th of September. We have not done the therapy since my last post and David’s face is fine. I would say about twice he’s had twinges and said something about how we may need to do a session later in the day, but by later in the day, the twinges have been gone. It is amazing.
On the 5th of September, it became clear that we weren't out of the woods. David woke up with pain, especially eye pain in the range of 4-5 and it did not go away by late morning. So we did a session then and another later in the day, by which time it had pretty much resolved. Also another on the morning of the 6th when his pain was 1 1/2-2 partly for good measure and partly so we could make the video for this blog.
Today is the 19th of September. We haven't done anything for a while, but we needed to do the therapy twice yesterday and once today.
2 comments:
Hi from San Diego,
I have TN type A, I have had 1 gamma knife and 4 baloon compression/gliserol surgeries in three years. The last one lasted only six months..Is the mirror therapy still working now in march 2010?
Thanks
Vic M
kalena1@cox.net
@Anonymous
Here's the email I sent in response:
Sorry to take so long to respond. My Inbox is stuffed!
Yes, David is still relatively pain-free, even though we have not done any mirror therapy for more than a year and a half.
HOWEVER, we did not do mirror therapy for TN. We did it for AD. As far as I know, TN is not a sensor syndrome--there is an actual, physical irritation, it is not all in the brain--so mirror therapy would not necessarily relieve it the same way it does AD, which is a sensor syndrome. Ramachandran incorrectly reported that we were using it for TN in that article, but that is not the case.
HOWEVER, I have had at least one report that mirror therapy works for all facial pain that is not bilaterally symmetrical, that is, even things like a tooth ache, which is not a sensor syndrome. If this is the case, you have nothing to lose by trying it. HOWEVER, if I understand it correctly, mirror therapy would not permanently relieve the pain of TN the way it eventually does for AD because it does not address the underlying cause. Still, it may be much better than drugs, so you may want to try it.
Sorry I can't be of more help. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Warmly,
Beth
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