Dubai: At the launch of the first song from his movie Tubelight, Salman Khan disclosed about his medical condition Trigeminal Neuralgia, also known as suicide disease, to the media. The actor shares his experience with the painful facial nerve disorder.
The disease is also known as suicide disease as the patients suffering from the disease develop suicide tendencies.
Recalling that one point in his life, where the actor wanted to end it, although he worked harder, he says,
“That’s one disease that basically has the highest rates of suicides…There is so much of pain…I suffered that,” and added, “So at that point of time, I realized that I need to work really hard. No matter how much pain you are going through.”
Salman Khan first disclosed about his medical condition in 2001. He said back then,
“There is a flex and hoarseness in my voice, it’s not because I am drunk, I don’t drink during Ramadan, it’s because of this ailment. I’m doing fine. It’s just that now, I had no choice but to pay attention to my health.”
HT spoke with Dr Mohsin Wali Cardiologist and Physician and Dr. Deepak Agarwal a Consultant Neurosurgeon to get a better idea about the Actor’s medical condition. Here’s what the two Doctors have to say about it:
What is Trigeminal neuralgia:
It is a facial disorder which occurs due to the inflammation of the trigeminal nerve in the face. And this inflammation can cause intense pain. The pain can be so severe that the disease often causes depression in patients, according to Facial Pain Assosiation.
This condition causes the patients to grimace in pain, also forcing them to move their faces back and forth.
Why does it happen?
The condition is idiopathic in nature, meaning there is no particular reason to why it happens.
But few known reasons could be tumors in the face, compressed blood vessels & aneurysms.
Symptoms of the disorder:
One of the main symptoms of the disorder is acute pain on one side of the face. The pain is immense, causes suicidal tendencies in the patient. Usually triggered by brushing your teeth, washing your face.
Excruciating pain can last from few seconds to minutes. It could be sudden doing any regular activity, there is no particular time for the onset of the attack. Jaw, teeth, gums, lips any facial area can be affected. The pain-free period is known as remission.