{"id":795337,"date":"2026-02-28T19:01:31","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T19:01:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/795337\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T19:01:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T19:01:31","slug":"woman-lives-with-excruciating-suicide-disease-that-has-no-treatment-on-nhs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/795337\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman lives with excruciating \u2018suicide disease\u2019 that has no treatment on NHS"},"content":{"rendered":"

In January 2023, Gabrielle De\u2019Athe started experiencing pain around her mouth and cheek and just \u2018thought it was tooth problems\u2019.<\/p>\n

The 34-year-old had repeated visits to the dentists with a \u2018few root canals\u2019 but was told \u2018there\u2019s nothing wrong\u2019.<\/p>\n

However, her health<\/a> continued to deteriorate as the pain became excruciating, causing her to pass out and landing her in hospital. But the London<\/a> mum says doctors \u2018were brushing it off\u2019 as something wrong with her teeth.<\/p>\n

And as the pain attacks over two years, it wasn\u2019t until May 2025 that Gabrielle was diagnosed with Atypical Trigeminal Neuralgia (ATN) \u2013 a condition so painful it\u2019s commonly dubbed the \u2018suicide disease\u2019.<\/p>\n

This features short but unpredictable attacks of a sudden, severe facial pain caused by the compression of the trigeminal nerve inside the skull.<\/p>\n

\"SheShe says the cold weather makes the condition worse. (Kennedy News and Media)<\/p>\n

Gabrielle describes the pain as \u2018like being electrocuted and stabbed repeatedly in the face\u2019.<\/p>\n

Having waited another year for surgery to cure her, the woman was diagnosed with Paroxysmal Hemicrania in November 2025, a debilitating one-sided headache affecting the area around the eye.<\/p>\n

And she says her body has stopped responding to pain medication, adding that she experiences seizures after being placed on anti-epilepsy medication.<\/p>\n

Her condition is made worse by the wind and cold so she is often restricted indoors.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s taken over my life. Over the last six months it deteriorated rapidly and I don’t have much of a quality of life,\u201d Gabrielle explains.<\/p>\n

“There are no words to describe [the pain]. I have two children and I’d rather have 10 babies back-to-back than go through this pain. It makes childbirth look like nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

She says that \u2018as soon as\u2019 she goes outside and the cold win touches her face, it \u2018causes an attack\u2019, meaning she\u2019s pretty much \u2018become a recluse\u2019 in the bad weather with the pain attacks able to last for days.<\/p>\n

“I do still have the attacks in the summer but they’re not as severe and warmer weather really helps me,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n

\"She'sShe’s hoping to go to the US for ‘life-changing’ surgery. (Kennedy News and Media)<\/p>\n

“Even down to brushing my teeth triggers me and eating and people touching my face. The smallest things trigger me so it’s really hard to manage because they’re everyday things we have to do.<\/p>\n

“I’ve lost who I am. I had a brilliant social life and was always out. Because it’s neurological, it’s really impacted by stress. I’m constantly worrying about my next attack, which brings on attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n

On some occasions, Gabrielle is able to manage her attacks at home, but during others she has to go to the hospital where they \u2018sedate me because they don\u2019t know how to treat it\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s horrible because I feel useless. I sit there thinking ‘please don’t let me wake up when this happens, I just can’t do this anymore’. I feel like a burden on people and I can’t be the mum I used to be,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n

The former aesthetician had to give up her job because it \u2018wasn\u2019t safe\u2019 for her to work anymore.<\/p>\n

\"SheShe says she sometimes has to get sedated at the hospital. (Kennedy News and Media)<\/p>\n

And now she has set up a GoFundMe<\/a> in the hopes of raising \u00a340,000 for advanced surgery in the US<\/a> that she says could \u2018get my life back\u2019.<\/p>\n

Aiming to raise enough for the \u2018life changing\u2019 complex facial procedure, she also hopes to raise awareness about chronic pain conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople with chronic pain conditions unfortunately do end up on opioids and the reality is we do become dependent,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

“It doesn’t make us a ‘druggy’ but we live with excruciating pain and should be treated like humans.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, you’re not when you’re diagnosed with an illness like this. They strip you of your pride.<\/p>\n

“The only advice I can give is you have to keep fighting because [doctors] will overlook you. At times I feel like I’m going mad with this.”<\/p>\n

Always seek advice from a healthcare professional if you have any concerns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In January 2023, Gabrielle De\u2019Athe started experiencing pain around her mouth and cheek and just \u2018thought it was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":795338,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4316],"tags":[49680,105,4348,218,16,15],"class_list":["post-795337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-gofundme","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-mental-health","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116149806020600248","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=795337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/795338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}