Jon Bell, Patient

His Personal Story

It is interesting to read these findings about the effects of "cold" - one odd-ball kind of thing I use to help dampen the TN pain is to put an ice cube on the "saddle" of skin between my thumb and first finger (on the hand of the same side as the facial pain) - it is something I read about (as a suggested way to relieve the pain of a toothache), tried and was amazed that I felt some immediate relief from the pain. Now, when my TN pain gets really strong, I put 2 or 3 ice cubes in a sealable plastic bag and then put on a loose cloth gardening glove and slip the bag of ice cubes into the glove and onto the saddle between the thumb and first finger of my left hand (my TN is on the left side of my face) and the glove holds the bag of ice cubes quite well and gives me an extended period of pain relief without soaking myself.

I have spoken with my pain management specialist and he said that the saddle between the thumb and first finger is also the place where an acupuncturist would place a needle to relieve facial pain.

The pain relief is not 100% (more like 50%) but is does dampen the surges of pain and offers some needed relief.

The ice cube trick has worked for me and I have passed the idea along to other people but I have no idea if it works for other people.

Posted 9-21-06