DR MARTIN SCURR answers your health questions dailymail.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dailymail.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
For two years, I’ve suffered with trigeminal neuralgia, a most annoying and painful condition that makes it a struggle even to brush my teeth, shave and eat. It began after a tooth extraction.
My GP prescribed the nerve pain drug carbamazepine, and I’ve asked for the dose to be increased. Someone suggested I try acupuncture. What do you recommend?
Keith Pinchbeck, West Yorkshire.
Trigeminal neuralgia causes recurrent episodes of severe, electric shock-like pains on one side of the face.
Each bout comes on suddenly and, while short-lived, can occur again and again in the space of minutes.
This can happen once or twice daily, or 50 times or more a burdensome and ghastly experience.
Carol Lawrence, Morecambe, Lancashire.
Air coming out of the ear is a classic sign of a perforated eardrum. The eardrum (or tympanic membrane) is a paper-thin structure that separates the outer ear from the middle ear.
The external ear canal, where wax accumulates, is only 2.5 cm in length and the eardrum which is just 8 mm in diameter is easily perforated or burst.
Potential causes include untreated middle ear infections and physical injuries, including those inflicted by cotton buds (a reason why you should avoid using them to clear your ears).
You say in your longer letter that you’d previously burst your eardrum in the same ear many years ago in a swimming accident; being able to blow air out of your ear as you describe indicates that the healed perforation has broken down.
Brian Lewis, Cardiff.
Rest assured, you are not alone. Trypanophobia, to give a fear of needles its proper name, is very common and I have much experience in counselling patients who are affected by it.
Up to ten per cent of the UK population is thought to have this phobia, meaning millions will have been grappling with their fear these past few months when going for their Covid-19 vaccination.
In some cases, the mere thought of a needle is enough to make someone pass out.
Trypanophobia, to give a fear of needles its proper name, is very common and I have much experience in counselling patients who are affected by it [File photo]
Brian Jones, Torquay, Devon.
Bronchiectasis is a chronic, irreversible lung condition, and coping with it must be hard for your wife especially in the context of her other health problems. It is typically associated with a cough, producing sputum that is difficult to shift.
Bronchiectasis occurs as a result of the gradual destruction of the walls of the bronchi (the main passages to the lungs) and other airways.
This causes the bronchi to widen, and can lead to the lining breaking, bouts of infection and the patient coughing up blood. The condition may also inflame the airways, obstructing the airflow.