A Neuralgia Pain Treatment That May Provide Months of Relief
Months of dramatic pain relief from neuralgia is now possible with treatments using an injection of a simple sugar (dextrose) solution. The treatment is called neural prolotherapy. It’s been shown to be effective in patients with post-herpetic and trigeminal neuralgia, among other painful conditions. The effects of a single treatment are often immediate and the reduction in pain sometimes lasts for months.
Dr. Elliott describes her personal experience with neural prolotherapy
I developed trigeminal neuralgia without any precipitating event (other than probably being evil in a previous life) in my right supraorbital and supratrochlear nerves in 2020. One day while I was seeing patients in my office I suddenly felt what I can best describe as a live power line making contact with my face. I felt like I was being electrocuted from my right eye up to the top right half of my scalp. I froze and couldn’t talk or open my eyes for almost two minutes because the pain was so intense. Thankfully I wasn’t with a patient but my medical assistant considered calling 911.
Over the next month, I had multiple episodes a day lasting from less than a second to up to two minutes. The pains were usually spontaneous but predictably occurred if I even lightly touched my right upper face or scalp or if I was outside in a strong breeze.
I’m originally an emergency physician so thankfully I was trained to do nerve blocks. I don’t know how I could have lived through the pains if I couldn’t. For the following month, every time I wanted to wash my hair and upper face, I’d have to do a nerve block above my right eye. Each nerve block treatment only stopped the pain for a couple of hours and by the end of the worst days my eye would be almost swollen shut.
Injecting Botox superficially over the painful area may have decreased the duration of episodes but it’s hard to say. I can say it made my right eye look smaller & my brow droopy. I injected steroid into the nerve which didn’t decrease the pain but did cause a bald spot in the middle of my eyebrow to complete my new post-stroke look.
I tried the usual medications prescribed for trigeminal neuralgia like carbamazepine and gabapentin but besides making me dizzy and groggy, they didn’t decrease the intensity or the frequency of the pain episodes. A neurosurgeon I consulted with recommended I continue doing nerve blocks as often as I needed versus having any type of nerve ablation.
After about four weeks, the pains suddenly stopped but as most people with trigeminal neuralgia would expect, they returned. For four years now, I’ve had cycles of between four to eight weeks of multiple pain episodes daily followed by one to six months of complete pain remission.
Finding a treatment that stops the pains
After reading a few articles this spring describing cases where prolotherapy provided drastic improvement in people with different types of neuralgia, I tried it. When the pains started returning in June. I was having a few momentary shock sensations every hour. I injected just 1 cc of 5% dextrose injection under the skin of my right brow and the frequency of the shock sensations decreased immediately. It was hard to believe but for the following 48 hours, I only had a couple of “zings” and was able to wash my hair. I did a second injection three days later and had no pains, even with touch, for the following week. Since then I’ve needed to do an injection about once every seven to ten days when the right front of my scalp zings from touching it and the pains stop immediately. It’s been about eight weeks since this episode started so it should be ending soon but it’s the first pain period in four years that I haven’t had more than a second of the shock sensation.
Recruiting neuralgia study volunteers
Only someone who has neuralgia pain can truly appreciate how grateful and excited I am about this simple treatment which has already changed my life. A treatment that can provide weeks to months of pain relief should be available to everyone and not just those who can inject themselves. I’m currently doing a study on a home version of prolotherapy treatment for neuralgia and I’m looking for volunteers. If you or someone you know has neuralgia pain and would like to participate, please contact me to see if you’re a candidate by emailing me at dr@skinspirations.com.
What happens during a treatment?
I’m happy to provide this treatment option for people with neuralgia. It hasn’t been determined yet if it will help people with neuropathy. Commercial insurance doesn’t cover the treatments but the price is very reasonable in my opinion. I charge $300 for the consultation and first treatment and $200 for treatments afterward.
The treatment involves one or more injections of solution using tiny needles just under the surface of the skin in the affected area. It usually takes less than fifteen minutes to complete. There’s minimal discomfort with the injections and most people report almost immediate improvement in pain. You can return to your normal activities immediately.
Individual results will vary of course and the treatment can be repeated as often as desired. Feel free to email me directly at dr@skinspirations.com to find out if you’re a candidate for neuralgia prolotherapy treatment.
- Kim H, Kim HJ, Jung YH, Do W, Kim EJ. The effect of perineural injection therapy on neuropathic pain: a retrospective study. J Dent Anesth Pain Med. 2024 Feb;24(1):47-56. doi: 10.17245/jdapm.2024.24.1.47. Epub 2024 Feb 1. PMID: 38362256; PMCID: PMC10864712.
- Kersschot J, Karavani I. Isotonic Glucose Injections for Postherpetic Neuralgia in the Elderly. Cureus. 2022 Sep 29;14(9):e29740. doi: 10.7759/cureus.29740. PMID: 36324341; PMCID: PMC9617511.
- Wu, Y.-T.; Chen, Y.-P.; Lam, K.H.S.; Reeves, K.D.; Lin, J.-A.; Kuo, C.-Y. Mechanism of Glucose Water as a Neural Injection: A Perspective on Neuroinflammation. Life 2022, 12, 832. https://doi.org/10.3390/life12060832
- Lyftogt J. Pain conundrums: which hypothesis? Central nervous system sensitization versus peripheral nervous system autonomy. Australasian Musculoskeletal Medicine. 2008;13(11):72-74.