A woman laments feeling like she’s being electrocuted anytime she touches her face due to a painful condition. The primary schoolteacher was diagnosed with an illness that causes severe pain and has been advised not to have kids.
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'The Suicide Disease'
For Laura Cruz, 28, what started off as a tingle on the right side of her lip in January, turned out to be an extremely rare and painful diagnosis. Doctors first thought she had shingles, but a visit to a specialist showed that she had a condition called trigeminal neuralgia.
She feels the debilitating pain caused by this condition at least 25 times a day, and it cannot be treated with painkillers.
This disease has completely consumed my life; I can't brush my hair or my teeth, eat, sleep, stand in the wind, or touch my face without feeling like I'm being electrocuted across my face. The flare ups are so bad that I now understand why it's called the 'suicide disease'.
Laura got married to married last summer, and the newly-weds were hoping to start trying for a family this year. However, she’s been advised against it due to the medications she’s on. Doctors fear they could cause severe deformities in the children they may have.
We are supposed to be in our honeymoon stage and we both wanted to try for children after getting married but this illness has completely taken over my life.
Sliver of Hope
Although the condition has no cure, doctors say a surgery could abate the pain for a number of years, in which time she would like to try for a baby.
The surgeon is hoping the operation will buy me anywhere between two and ten years without pain so I can come off the medication and try for a baby. That was the most devastating part for me. One day it'll return, but if it can buy me time to have a family, that's what I care about.
Laura has started a GoFundMe page to help raise money for the operation scheduled for January 20 as she cannot bear the pain long enough to access treatment via the NHS.
This is an invisible illness and a lot of the time, people will think there's nothing wrong with me, but I want people to know more about this illness and realize that this is serious.
