Pain-Triggering Foods

• If you're suffering from this condition, be aware that certain foods can trigger pain, while others keep you relatively pain-free. The Trigeminal Neuralgia Association (TNA), a support organization for facial pain sufferers, offers some guidelines that you may find helpful in controlling your pain. Avoid foods that cause extreme sensations in your mouth, which in turn tend to trigger the pain of trigeminal neuralgia. Specifically, stay away from foods that create extreme sensations of heat, cold, sweetness or sourness. These foods include chili, spicy salsa, hot sauce, mint and such spices as black pepper, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. Also avoid foods with strong odors, as they too can trigger attacks.
  
  

Safe Foods

• If you're looking for foods that rarely, if ever, trigger episodes of pain, Dr. Neal Barnard, author of "Foods That Fight Pain," has some helpful suggestions. Start with foods that Barnard has labeled "pain-safe." These include brown rice, cooked or dried cherries, cranberries, pears and prunes; cooked green, yellow or orange vegetables, including artichokes, asparagus, broccoli, chard, collards, lettuce, spinach, beans, squash, taro (also known as poi) and tapioca; water; and limited amounts of such condiments as vanilla extract, salt and maple syrup. Stick with these "pain-safe" foods for three or four weeks, Barnard urges, and then slowly begin adding one or two other foods at a time to see whether they trigger pain; if not, they can then be incorporated into your diet.
  
  

Low Saturated Fat Diet

• To sharply reduce or eliminate the pain of trigeminal neuralgia, you might want to try a diet that is very low in saturated fat, a strategy that has worked for many who have the condition. Devised by Frank Sherwood to address some heart-related issues, the diet has proved successful in reducing the symptoms of trigeminal neuralgia and multiple sclerosis. Sherwood's dietary plan is fairly straightforward: limit your daily intake of saturated fat to 10 grams or less. Also, Sherwood urges, avoid the following: high-acid foods such as tomatoes, vinegar and pickles; high-arginine foods, including nuts and chocolate; caffeine; aspartame, the artificial sweetener found in Nutrasweet and Equal; and such spices as cinnamon, pepper and salt.