Diagnosed with trigeminal neuralgia. History of seizures,had taken anti-convulsion medicines. Should the history be revealed to the doctor?
Patient: My son is experiencing acute right face pain that radiates to his temple and eye area. he has been checked by the dentist who says there is no dental problem. he saw his GP who gave him pain killers which have not touched the pain at all. this has been going on for 5 days. He has returned to the doctor who has examined him and suggested it is Trigeminal Neuralgia and prescribed amitryptaline and dihydrocodine. My concern is that although he is 30 years old now, when he was a child aged 7 he started to have seizures, was diagnosed and treated with anticonvulsants until he was weaned off at aged 10 yrs. His father was diagnosed with an anyurism when he was approimately the same age my son is now (he has been on anticonvulsants since) . My son did not tell the doctor of this history....Should he go back to the doctor and ask for a referral to a specialist? Doctor: Hi,  Thank you for posting your query.  I agree with a possible diagnosis of Trigeminal neuralgia. However, any acute onset Trigeminal neuralgia requires investigations.  So, I feel, you should tell the GP the previous history and ask for a referral to the neurologist. MRI brain should be done to look for any structural abnormality, such as demyelination, etc.  Best wishes, Dr Sudhir Kumar MD DM (Neurology) Senior Consultant Neurologist