59 min
Trigeminal Neuralgia: A Scientist Cures Himself of Facial Pain Painopolis
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- Medicina
Can’t sleep because of chronic pain? (And wondering if weed might help?) Get our new book, Cannabis Lullaby: A Painsomniac’s Quest for a Good Night’s Sleep. Available in print, ebook, and audiobook, it’s brimming with real-world, evidence-based answers. The author is Painopolis co-host David Sharp, an award-winning health journalist who nipped his pain-fueled insomnia in the bud. Buy a copy today at: painopolis.com/cannabis-lullaby/
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Tormented by severe facial pain, Hugh Spencer invented a nonsurgical way to relieve his trigeminal neuralgia. He found the remedy—capsaicin—inside a canister of pepper spray.
Nineteen years ago, in a distant corner of northeast Australia, a scientist named Hugh Spencer started suffering horrible attacks of pain on the left side of his head. It felt as if someone were striking him with an axe. A neurobiologist by training, Spencer—in his 50s at the time—feared that he was experiencing the first foreboding glimmers of an agonizing ailment called trigeminal neuralgia.
“Spencer’s treatment involves a chemical so ubiquitous that you probably ate it the last time you dined at a Mexican, Thai, or Indian restaurant.”
It’s a neurological disorder that happens when the trigeminal nerve—a major cranial nerve that affects facial sensations and chewing—goes haywire, often for unknown reasons. It then floods the spinal cord and brain with ferocious pain signals. Typically described as electrical or stabbing, the facial pain can be so unbearable that trigeminal neuralgia has been dubbed “the suicide disease.” And indeed, Spencer—unable to control his escalating pain with medications alone—eventually found himself nearly pushed to the brink.
If his medical ordeal weren’t challenging enough, he also had to deal with one other obstacle: geographic remoteness rivaling that of Gilligan’s Island. Spencer runs an environmental research station at Cape Tribulation. There, scientists from around the world study everything from flying foxes to invasive weed species. Located along a coastline teeming with crocodiles, pythons, and ostrichlike cassowaries, his research station is actually closer to Papua New Guinea than to any major city in Australia. In fact, his nearest neighbor is the oldest tropical rainforest on earth.
Did you find this episode worth hearing? Kindly leave a tip. We really appreciate it. Thanks!
Can’t sleep because of chronic pain? (And wondering if weed might help?) Get our new book, Cannabis Lullaby: A Painsomniac’s Quest for a Good Night’s Sleep. Available in print, ebook, and audiobook, it’s brimming with real-world, evidence-based answers. The author is Painopolis co-host David Sharp, an award-winning health journalist who nipped his pain-fueled insomnia in the bud. Buy a copy today at: painopolis.com/cannabis-lullaby/
Our toolbox:
Check out the following sponsored services we use and love.
Please support Painopolis:
Did you find this episode worth hearing? If so, kindly donate to Painopolis.
We appreciate it! Your donation allows us to keep bringing you great stories, strategies, and insights.
_____________________
Tormented by severe facial pain, Hugh Spencer invented a nonsurgical way to relieve his trigeminal neuralgia. He found the remedy—capsaicin—inside a canister of pepper spray.
Nineteen years ago, in a distant corner of northeast Australia, a scientist named Hugh Spencer started suffering horrible attacks of pain on the left side of his head. It felt as if someone were striking him with an axe. A neurobiologist by training, Spencer—in his 50s at the time—feared that he was experiencing the first foreboding glimmers of an agonizing ailment called trigeminal neuralgia.
“Spencer’s treatment involves a chemical so ubiquitous that you probably ate it the last time you dined at a Mexican, Thai, or Indian restaurant.”
It’s a neurological disorder that happens when the trigeminal nerve—a major cranial nerve that affects facial sensations and chewing—goes haywire, often for unknown reasons. It then floods the spinal cord and brain with ferocious pain signals. Typically described as electrical or stabbing, the facial pain can be so unbearable that trigeminal neuralgia has been dubbed “the suicide disease.” And indeed, Spencer—unable to control his escalating pain with medications alone—eventually found himself nearly pushed to the brink.
If his medical ordeal weren’t challenging enough, he also had to deal with one other obstacle: geographic remoteness rivaling that of Gilligan’s Island. Spencer runs an environmental research station at Cape Tribulation. There, scientists from around the world study everything from flying foxes to invasive weed species. Located along a coastline teeming with crocodiles, pythons, and ostrichlike cassowaries, his research station is actually closer to Papua New Guinea than to any major city in Australia. In fact, his nearest neighbor is the oldest tropical rainforest on earth.
Did you find this episode worth hearing? Kindly leave a tip. We really appreciate it. Thanks!
59 min