At the Bedside: UTHealth Houston surgeon helps El Paso woman live pain-free life after a decade of illness

Paula Chávez, left, with her daughter, Violeta Chávez, PhD, associate professor at UTHealth Houston. (Photo by Violeta Chávez)

Ten years ago, Paula Chávez, now 71, was living a normal, healthy life when she was suddenly hit with severe pain behind her left eye. 

“The first time that it happened to me, I thought I was going to go blind. It dropped me to my knees,” Paula recalls. “It was so sudden. It didn't give me any warning.” 

The pain, which Paula describes as an electric shock behind your eye “but 100 times stronger,” continued to plague her for the next decade. The mystery condition reached a tipping point in 2024, when she suddenly couldn’t experience a waking moment without debilitating pain. 

“It just wouldn't stop. It was constant. I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep,” she said. “I couldn't do anything, and I was ashamed to go out in public.” 

The El Paso, Texas native visited countless doctors, including dentists, cardiologists, and neurologists, but no one in the region could determine a cause or provide her with relief. 

In 2024, her daughter, Violeta Chávez, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, suggested she be seen by professionals at UTHealth Houston. 

After she made the nearly 800-mile journey, Nitin Tandon, MD, professor of neurosurgery at McGovern Medical School, finally gave Paula a diagnosis – she was suffering from a rare chronic pain condition known as trigeminal neuralgia. 

After receiving surgery at UTHealth Houston, Paula Chávez is back to her job as an academic advisor and yoga instructor. (Photo by Violeta Chávez)

“Imagine touching your face and it feels like pain, or the AC blowing on your face feeling like a very sharp, stabbing pain,” said Tandon, who is co-director of the Texas Comprehensive Epilepsy Program, as well as the Nancy, Clive, and Pierce Runnells Distinguished Chair in Neuroscience of the Vivian L. Smith Center for Neurologic Research and the BCMS Distinguished Professor in Neurological Disorders and Neurosurgery at McGovern Medical School. “The pain is excruciating. Imagine a relentless abscess in a tooth that you cannot get rid of.” 

Trigeminal neuralgia occurs when a loop of blood vessels collides with a nerve in the brain. While rare, the condition typically develops as people age, and is most common among adults over 50. 

“The collision results in compression of the nerve with each heartbeat,” Tandon said. “Each time the vessel and the brain move from each heartbeat, it bangs into the nerve. The upshot is the nerve senses any normal sensation as pain.” 

By the time Paula saw Tandon, she had already tried countless medications in an attempt to treat her condition. While radiation is one treatment option for trigeminal neuralgia, Tandon determined that Paula, an active yoga instructor, was a good candidate for a surgery known as microvascular decompression.

The surgery entails opening a person’s skull and inserting a material that prevents the artery from hitting the nerve. Tandon, who has performed upward of 100 surgeries to treat the condition, said about 85% of people who undergo the procedure have no pain afterward.

For Paula, the December 2024 procedure completely turned her life around. A year later, she no longer worries about the unexpected pain. 

She’s “a regular person” again, she says, back to her job as an academic advisor and yoga instructor. Everyday activities, like reading, watching TV, or looking at her phone, which used to be debilitating, are now pain free. 

“Dr. Tandon took my pain away. My quality of life is fantastic. It’s wonderful,” Paula said. “I’m so excited I did that. And I got the perfect doctor to do it as well.”