Some say that pain is all in your head. Others say that it’s a feeling that can be quantified and justified. Personally, I go with the latter’s idea. You break a leg: you scream and get a cast. You stub your toe: you swear under your breath and rub it to soothe the pain. I always hate the scale that people use to ask how you are; how can stubbing your toe and breaking your leg even belong in the same ten point scale? What about trigeminal neuralgia? The electrical shocks that course through your face at random times can’t possibly be compared to stubbing your toe. With only approximately one in every twenty thousand people diagnosed (many are misdiagnosed due to its rare nature) the few that actually experience the pain will tell you that the ten point scale is no near large enough. Ten. That won’t do. Twenty. That won’t do. One hundred. That won’t do. But, you can see it. You see it in the way a patient’s eyes to sparkle like they used to, you can see the swollen shape to their face, you may even notice how they don’t talk as loudly or as often as before. Now, don’t get me wrong this is an awful condition, but you have to fight through it as you would anything else. You wouldn’t give up playing soccer if you broke your leg and you wouldn’t stop walking if you stubbed your toe; this is no different. There are two types of people on the support pages. Person A: “I decided to tell my husband today that this was too difficult for him to handle, so he should take our children and leave me. Oh, and I met with a doctor today and he said surgery isn’t the right way to go, but when I asked what my medications did he laughed at me and told me to have a nice day.” This would be the wrong way to go about the situation. Your husband should LOVE you and SUPPORT you through the difficult times. And, if your doctor laughs at when you have questions about what you are putting INTO your body, chances are he has no idea himself. Person B: “I just wanted to tell you all to keep fighting today! It may seem like things are tough right now, but I just went out and found myself a new doctor who actually knows what he’s doing and he’s educating me on what steps I should take moving forward. I strongly recommend you all do the same if your doctor just isn’t working for you anymore! Lots of love!” Now we’re talking. See how she goes out and tries to solve the problem herself? Instead of wallowing in self pity. We all have our battles, yours aren’t any worse than anyone else’s and that’s what it so hard for some to understand. Don’t pity yourself because that won’t solve anything. If you truly want to fix whatever problem you’re currently facing you wouldn’t just sit around saying “woe is me.” You’d be doing everything in your power to stay strong and to keep pushing forward. The biggest lesson anyone has ever taught me was to “just keep swimming.” And yes, I did just quote a fish. With trigeminal neuralgia, or any disease, you can’t give in. Telling your husband to leave you because it’s too difficult for HIM to handle is atrocious. You are the one dealing with the pain. You fix you.