The Suicide Disease : Trigeminal Neuralgia

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has published a fact sheet of statistics on suicide in the United States. In 2007, it is reported that suicide was the tenth leading cause of death. Furthermore, for every suicide committed, eleven were attempted. A total of 34,598 deaths occurred from suicide with an overall rate of 11.3 suicide deaths per 100,000 people. (NIMH, 2010). Risk factors were also noted on this report and listed “depression and other mental disorders, or a substance abuse disorder (often in combination with other mental disorders). More than ninety percent of people who die by suicide have these risk factors (NIMH, 2010).”

Roughly seven years later Carol Ezzell revisits Dr. Mann's research with his colleague Victoria Arango. Arango's research, presented in 2001, at a conference of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology had determined that "people who were depressed and died by suicide contained fewer neurons in the orbital prefrontal cortex" and that "in suicide brains, that area had one third the number of presynaptic serotonin transporters that control the brains had but roughly 30 percent more post synaptic serotonin receptors". (2) This means that the brain is trying extra hard to deliver whatever serotonin it could produce to the correct part of the brain. This system of serotonin production and absorption is known as the serotonergic system. The serotonergic system is what Arango believes is deficient in people who attempt or commit suicide. (2)

For the past couple of years, I have witnessed first hand the effects that trigeminal neuralgia does to the human body. My mother was diagnosed with trigeminal neuralgia in 2010. She was suffering from the pain of the condition for more than two years before she was correctly diagnosed at MD Anderson in Houston, Texas. My mother always explained her pain as worse than childbirth, and that is because she has had four children. It caused my mom to have multiple sleepless nights, an aching jaws, constant and excruciating pain, and in one extreme incident, her job locked while she was chewing causing her to choke and had to receive the Heimlich maneuver. Being that she said it was the worst pain in her life, my family knew it was something more than chronic migraines: which is what one of the doctors she saw in the Rio Grande Valley diagnosed her with.

Suicide is the intentional act of killing oneself. Typically individuals who commit suicide act out of despair. Common suicide triggers are mental disorders such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and alcoholism and drug abuse. Personal issues such as financial problems or poor interpersonal relationships play a significant role in the cause of suicide (Gross, 2006).In the U.S suicide is the 6th cause of death. Suicide is also the leading cause of death among teenagers and young adults, more men commit suicide than women (Gelder et al, 2005).Leenar and Lester article mention important information about the general knowledge about suicide in college students. However relevant information is missing.

Chronic pain is any pain that lasts longer than 3 months (FNLM, 2011). A common type of chronic pain is neuropathic pain which occurs when the nerves themselves are damaged by injury or disease (Veteran Mates, 2013). Neuropathic pain is a complex condition that is often underdiagnosed or undertreated, resulting in negative physical, psychological and social impacts (Veteran Mates, 2013). Therefore early management is critical in order to improve the person’s quality of life and to reduce the chance of the pain becoming persistent (Pain Health, 2015). The following 5 articles relating to the management of neuropathic pain will be annotated, including a summary of the main

Trigeminal neuralgia is a chronic pain condition that is caused by inflammation of the trigeminal nerve. In patients with trigeminal neuralgia, even mild stimulation leads to intense pain. The pain may be short isolated episodes, but it can progress to longer and more frequent bouts of intense pain. This chronic pain condition causes extreme, sporadic sudden burning or shock-like face pain. The intensity of pain can be physically and mentally incapacitating and debilitating to patients with trigeminal neuralgia, although the disorder is not life-threatening. Pain episodes can occur every few hours, minutes, or seconds and then disappear for months or years until next episodes. There is always the risk that trigeminal neuralgia will recur without any signs of warning.

Trigeminal neuralgia, or tic douloureux, is a well-recognized disorder that most commonly occurs in people over 50 years of age and slightly more commonly in women than in men.( Scrivani et al., 2005) Trigeminal neuralgia is characterized by paroxysms of unilateral facial pain, most commonly in the second and third trigeminal divisions, that are severe and lancinating.

Suicide is a growing problem around the world and is the third leading cause of death. Statistics show the seriousness of the situation. According to W.H.O. (World Health Organization) and C.D.C. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), over 800,000 people die by suicide every year with 42,773 being Americans. The National Alliance on Mental Illness says the leading cause of people committing suicide is untreated depression, but “only half of all Americans experiencing an episode of major depression receive treatment” (“Causes”). The most successful treatment today for depression is therapy and/or prescript-ed medication. The other common causes of suicide are other mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, postpartum depression, PTSD, or others similar. Today, it is a constant battle to find ways to prevent suicide more efficiently.

The author decided to pick this topic after watching a documentary on suicide titled, “The Bridge” which occurred at the golden gate bridge in San Francisco, CA. One could see in this documentary how various individuals of different age groups jumped from this bridge and died. From the author’s observation, all the individuals who jumped from this bridge had some sort of issues going on and most were due to some kind of mental illness. Thus, the author decided to pick this topic “depression” which is one of the high risk factor for suicide. Just in 2013, suicide was the tenth leading cause of death for all ages in the United States and by 2015, variation occurred. Suicide went up to being the second leading cause of death in persons aged 15-34

It is hard to imagine that an individual could reach a point where no other options seem viable, yet suicide remains a relevant and pervasive issue in society. Suicide is a leading cause of premature and preventable death. In 2009, it was estimated that there were 100,000 years of potential life lost by Canadians under the age of 75 as a result of suicide (Navaneelan, T., et al., 2012). Suicide is particularly prevalent among two age groups: adolescents and the elderly. Research shows that mental illness is one of the most common characteristics of people who commit suicide in all ages, with more than 90% of suicides being committed by someone with a mental or addictive disorder. The mental illness most often at the root of suicide is depression, with approximately 60% suffering from this condition.

Originally this condition was thought to be caused by emotional stress and clients were told that their pain was a fabrication of the imagination. These days, it is known that the painful

Depression is one of common mental disorders. World Health Organisation (WHO) (2015) has estimated that depression affects 350million people of all ages worldwide. Depression has been seen as the leading cause of disability and the overall global burden of disease. People who are suffering from depression experience a constant feeling of sadness or loss of interest and pleasure in doing things they used to enjoy for at least two weeks along with other possible symptoms such as insomnia, irritability, poor or increased appetite, weight gain or loss, loss of energy, feelings of worthlessness, difficulty concentrating, difficulty in making decisions, and recurrent thoughts of death or suicide (King, Davison, Neale & Johnson, 2007, p.231). In New Zealand, it has been estimated that one in six people experience serious depression at some time in their life. Depression has also been recognised as the most common risk factor for suicide behaviour (The Health Promotion Agency, n.d.). Globally, over 800 000 people commit suicide and die every year (WHO, 2015).

Suicide. Thinking of death even suicide are symptoms of depression. If it is left untreated, the worse will be. Sometimes, someone might feel like suicide is the only way out, the only way to escape the pain.

Trigeminal neuralgia is a nerve disorder that causes attacks of severe facial pain. The attacks last from a few seconds to several minutes. They can happen for days, weeks, or months and then go away for months or years. Trigeminal neuralgia is also called tic douloureux.

Suicide is currently the 10th leading cause of death in the United States (Suicide and Self-Inflicted Injury, 2017). On average, 121 Americans complete suicide each day (CDC Fatal Injuries Report 2015, 2015). The American people are living longer with advances to medical care and technology, yet suicide rates continue to rise. According to the CDC, suicide rates have increased by 24% from the year 1999 to 2014 (Curtain, Warner & Hedegaard, 2016). Consequently, the suicide epidemic continues to grow with no clear path to prevention. This literature review was conducted using the Robert Morris University Library online databases. Databases accessed include PubMed…………., from the years 2000 to 2017. Overall, most the articles obtained are