In this bonus episode, we share Adriana Salazar's powerful and emotional journey. Adriana, a 40-year-old mother and wife, first experienced the pain on her honeymoon in Portugal. The pain disappeared but returned during her pregnancy, escalating to a point where she couldn't smile or eat. Despite seeing multiple specialists, she received her diagnosis only after her daughter's birth.
After undergoing microvascular decompression surgery, Adriana finally found relief. Her journey from debilitating pain and struggles with misdiagnoses to reclaiming her life highlights the resilience and strength of those battling trigeminal neuralgia.
Additional Resources
Dr. Hodaie was interviewed on Season 1 of Your Complex Brain – "The most painful brain disease you've never heard of"
Toronto neurosurgeon marks 1,000th operation treating 'excruciating' facial pain syndrome (CBC story)
Dr. Hodaie recounts her journey from new immigrant to neurosurgeon (video)
Brain Aging in Fast Forward (UHN Research article)
Dr. Hodaie was a featured speaker at KBI's first-ever 'International Day of Women and Girls in Science' event (video)
The Your Complex Brain production team is Heather Sherman, Jessica Schmidt, Dr. Amy Ma, Kim Perry, Alley Wilson, Sara Yuan, Meagan Anderi, Liz Chapman, and Lorna Gilfedder.
The Krembil Brain Institute, part of University Health Network, in Toronto, is home to one of the world's largest and most comprehensive teams of physicians and scientists uniquely working hand-in-hand to prevent and confront problems of the brain and spine, such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, epilepsy, stroke, spinal cord injury, chronic pain, brain cancer or concussion, in their lifetime. Through state-of-the-art patient care and advanced research, we are working relentlessly toward finding new treatments and cures.
Do you want to know more about the Krembil Brain Institute at UHN? Visit us at: uhn.ca/krembil
To get in touch, email us at krembil@uhn.ca or message us on social media:
Instagram - @krembilresearch
Twitter - @KBI_UHN
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/KrembilBrainInstitute
Thanks for listening!
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.