Natisha “Tish” Long is familiar with what’s considered to be the most agonizing sensations known to humans.
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what → consider → humans
Since 2018, an unbearable “shocking, throbbing pain” would course through her face at random, lasting from seconds to minutes each time.
“When I got my shocks, it was all-in-one, everything hit me,” she told The Post.
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she → throb → Post
Every second that passed felt like an eternity.
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that → pass → eternity
“It’s just there and you’re waiting for it to ease up.
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it → ’ → ?
Sometimes I’d have to stop and just wait until that whole shock was over with before I could function.”
uncertain
I → have → ?
The mom of four has trigeminal neuralgia, a neurological condition nicknamed the “suicide disease” because of how brutal its episodes are.
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episodes → have → neuralgia
“You can’t smile, you can’t brush your teeth, you can’t wash your face.
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you → smile → face
Any little thing, the wind hitting it, it’s pain,” Long said.
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Long → hit → it
It’s no surprise that these episodes cause extreme emotional distress, anxiety and depression.
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episodes → ’ → distress
It’s not just a nickname — research shows people with this disease are at increased risk of suicide and self harm.
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people → ’ → suicide
But experts are trying to move away from the nickname because treatment options are available that provide long-term relief.
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that → try → relief
After seven long years, Long found it for herself with a first-in-the-world procedure at University Hospitals in Ohio.
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Long → find → Ohio
“It was very, very hard to function because I still had to work and be a mom,” she said.
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she → function → ?
“I was working through pain …
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I → work → pain
I don’t know how I did it.
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I → know → it
When I look back, I’m like, how did I go to work for 12 hours and put like this little game face on?”
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I → look → face
Her condition stole both her signature smile and bubbly personality.
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condition → steal → smile
“At work, people could see [the pain] in my face,” she said.
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she → see → face
They’d ask her what’s wrong, and in response, “I had to mumble.
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I → ask → response
I couldn’t really open my mouth too much so I wouldn’t get triggered; I tried to be as quiet as possible.”
It all started with tingling on her upper jaw.
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It → open → jaw
She saw a dentist multiple times, who couldn’t find anything wrong.
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who → see → anything
She was prescribed a new toothpaste and mouthwash, but neither helped.
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neither → prescribe → toothpaste
The pain spread down to her lower jaw and got worse.
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pain → spread → jaw
She saw a physician, who suggested it might be facial neuropathy, a broader category of nerve dysfunction in the face that can include numbness and constant, dull pain.
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that → see → numbness
Doctors prescribed gabapentin and carbamazepine, which initially helped.
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which → prescribe → gabapentin
“As soon as you wake up, you take your pills because you’re gonna wake up in pain,” she said.
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she → wake → pain
“You’re going to sleep in pain, you’re waking up in the pain.
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you → go → pain
[My friends] always knew, Tish has to have her bag of pills … if I forgot, I’m like, I got to go home.
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I → know → pills
You know, I can’t function.”
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I → know → ?
But soon, her episodes became even more frequent and intense, breaking through the little relief the medicine provided.
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medicine → become → relief
The most common form of the condition occurs when a blood vessel presses against the trigeminal nerve near the brainstem.
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vessel → occur → brainstem
The pressure can damage the nerve’s protective covering, causing it to send pain signals erratically.
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it → damage → signals
This causes that “shocking, shooting, stabbing, lancing pain in your face,” explains neurosurgeon Dr. Michael Staudt, who treated Long at University Hospitals.
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who → cause → Hospitals
Those medications Long was taking were originally developed to treat seizures, but they can also help calm overactive nerves and relieve nerve pain.
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they → take → pain
Patients often have to increase their dose rapidly to keep up with worsening episodes, making tradeoffs with side effects like brain fog, confusion, and weight gain, Staudt said.
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Staudt → have → fog
Still, medication “doesn’t work for everybody,” he said, with “at least 30%” not seeing lasting relief from drugs.
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% → work → drugs
Long was one of the patients for whom medication no longer worked.
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medication → work → whom
So she underwent what’s considered the standard for surgical treatment of the condition: microvascular decompression, which lifts that problematic blood vessel off the nerve using a little piece of sterile Teflon.
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which → undergo → Teflon
“It’s something we do all the time, but it is brain surgery, it can take three-ish hours,” Staudt said.
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Staudt → do → hours
“The patient has to be admitted for a couple days.”
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patient → have → days
…and 28 more, not listed.
The Aporia
