Member-only story
Living with the Suicide Disease
Being diagnosed with trigeminal neuralgia and how the so-called “suicide disease” has changed my life.
THE NIGHT THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
August 10th, 2017 was an ordinary summer day. It was close to 11pm when I started getting ready for bed. As I did every night, I brushed my teeth, washed my face, and massaged lotions and potions into my skin. I felt tired but otherwise fine. My hubby wasn’t yet home when I slipped between the cool bedsheets.
Within minutes of tucking myself in, I was thunderstruck by a pain like no other on the left side of my face.
I could only feel myself think for a split second.
Was something wrong with my teeth?
Was this some new cruel iteration of my migraines?
But this pain went beyond any of that. I reached for my migraine medication — high-dose, prescription Naproxen — and took one, praying this pain would dissolve, then curled up into fetal position and sobbed.
When my hubby finally came to bed, I turned to him and cried, “It hurts so much and I don’t know what to do.”
So I did the only thing I could: I called my parents. My father is a doctor and my mother is a nurse, so this was exactly one of those moments when I was grateful to live…
