I asked my doctor about Trigeminal Neuralgia. Here's his response which has helped me tremendously in subsiding my fear. I hope he doesn't mind me posting it here. I think it will help many of us.
"We have had patients with facial pain on the side of their acoustic neuromas both before and after treatment. The primary issue here is whether your pain is mild, or if there represents true trigeminal neuralgia. It is not uncommon for the acoustic neuromas to your take the trigeminal nerve as they are growing. This can cause intermittent facial pain, and in rare instances can cause actual trigeminal neuralgia. True trigeminal neuralgia is severe pain rated 10 out of 10 on a pain scale, and often prevents the patient from eating. This is not the typical pain that acoustic neuroma patients usually experience. After radiosurgical treatment, as the tumor undergoes inflammation and dies, the trigeminal nerve may also be irritated resulting in occasional pain. Again this is typically different than true trigeminal neuralgia pain. In the case of the intermittent facial pain resulting from tumor inflammation, that usually settles down once the tumor dies completely from the radiosurgical treatment. In my expense, I've not had a patient develop true trigeminal neuralgia after radiosurgery treatment. I have had occasional patients developed the more milder form of intermittent facial pain but this is typically been self-limiting and usually resolves over time."
My understanding is the inflammation of the tumor from radiation lasts anywhere between 3 months to a year. Most of my facial pains are gone. I still have some occasional residual mild pain near my nose but very tolerable. And most importantly I CAN EAT!!!
So, you see, let's keep thinking positively and like Phyl's mom said "yes, this, too, shall pass"... and it will! Look at the results from Phyl and many others!!
