Salman Khan ‘writhed in pain’ for years due to trigeminal neuralgia, recalls eight-hour surgery: ‘Wouldn’t want biggest enemy to go through that’

“And this used to happen every four-five minutes. It used to take me an hour and a half to have my breakfast and I used to go straight to dinner. For an omelette, it used to take me… because I couldn’t… so I used to force myself (to eat),” he said, and recalled that even painkillers wouldn’t help.

ALSO READ | Kajol called Salman Khan ‘uncle’ the first time they met, Twinkle Khanna rode her cycle into a ditch as she was busy gawking Salman-Sangeeta Bijlani

Salman shared that at first, it was assumed that something was wrong with his teeth, but when he realised that the pain interval increases when he is drinking, doctors came to the conclusion that it was related to his nerves. Salman recalled that he first experienced this kind of pain on the set of the 2007 film Partner after Lara pushed a strand of hair out of his face. He laughed and recalled, “I said, ‘Wow Lara, electrifying!’ That is when it started.”

Salman said that the pain is gone, but recalled, “It is the worst pain. It is called ‘the suicidal disease’. Maximum number of suicides happen because of this disease.” Aamir added, “Because you can’t handle the pain.” Salman shared that he spoke about his own experience because people did not know about the condition, even though many people have it.

“Now it is very easily treatable. There is a gamma knife surgery. They fix screws on your face for 7-8 hours. They make you lie down and with the gamma knife…” he said as he recalled going through eight of surgery. He shared that after the surgery, he was told that his pain might reduce by 20-30 percent but luckily, it went away completely.

Salman said he is fine now, and added, “Now the aneurysm is there. An arteriovenous malformation is present. But you have got to live with it. There are a lot of people living with bypass surgeries, heart conditions and so many other things.”