Ep. 92 | Trigger Point

MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries

Wondery | Ballen Studios

True Crime

4.7 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 8 July 2025

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

After an uneventful flight, a college professor suddenly experiences severe pain in his cheek. The excruciating spasms come on with no warning, and no explanation. No matter what his doctors suggest, the agony is unyielding – and the only possible solution could end up making the problem even worse.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, Prime members. You can listen to new episodes of Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries
0:03.9	Early and Ad-Free. Download the Amazon Music app today.
0:11.6	In the summer of 2016, a 66-year-old college professor lay down on an examination table in excruciating pain.
0:23.7	It felt like somebody was stabbing his left cheek with an ice pick. The pain was so bad,
0:28.6	his eyes welled up with tears until his vision went blurry. He could barely see his doctor,
0:33.3	who stood across the room filling a syringe with anesthetic. When the doctor made her way over to the professor, he tensed up.
0:39.9	Over the past few months, he'd had this procedure over and over again, and every second
0:44.7	of it was pure agony.
0:47.1	The doctor plunged the needle into his cheek, and immediately the muscles pinched with pain.
0:52.0	The professor dug his nails into the exam table as the doctor
0:55.1	withdrew the needle slightly as she looked for her target and then plunged it back in again.
1:00.8	Finally, the needle hit a taut mess of nerves that was the source of the professor's pain.
1:05.8	Pain erupted in his cheek and he nearly screamed out. But at least now, the doctor could begin administering
1:12.2	the anesthetic. The medicine burned as it pulled beneath his skin, but then his cheek began to numb.
1:18.5	And for the first time in two weeks, the stabbing pain subsided. The professor was relieved,
1:24.4	but he knew this was short-lived. Soon the pain would come back, and he would need this horrible procedure again, over and
1:31.6	over for the rest of his life.
1:40.8	Travis fell in love with the perfect woman.
1:43.8	She listened. She cared.
1:45.8	There was just one catch.
1:48.0	She was an AI companion.
1:50.5	When her behaviour takes a disturbing turn,
	...

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