Beginning in April of 1999 I started having little nerve-like twinges in my right jaw area. They gradually increased until one night I was standing at the sink drinking a cup of water when a tremendous jolt of pain shot through me, I dropped my china cup in the sink and screamed. My husband luckily was at home, rushed in to check on me, and comforted me. Many weeks went by before I had a correct diagnosis - trigeminal neuralgia- from a neurologist at the University of Washington Medical Center. Within 6 months I had the first of 5 surgeries to control my pain, and today I can happily report it is quite well controlled. It took me 2 years to take on the starting of a local support group for TN patients. I attended the Pittsburg conference and got alot of encouragement there. Ruth Purchase from Portland helped me finally get started a year after that. I will always be grateful to her. Our first meeting had one person come besides me! And she had another pain syndrome, not TN, but I had the momentum from that to keep going. Gradually word got around Seattle that we were here, and now we have an email list of approximately 80 or so people. Many members of the Seattle medical community have been generous with us, particularly Dr. Ronald Young and Dr. John Loeser, who have met with us twice each. We've developed a core group of members who stay in touch and are a source of great support and friendship at this point. I am gently handing off my responsibilities to Carol Freedman, co-support group leader and a highly capable and compassionate colleague here in Seattle. I will always be involved in the group though, because it has been of so much benefit to me.
