’Like electrical shocks in the head, a lightning bolt across your face, and you have no warning’

TV legend Denise Drysdale has undergone brain surgery to combat a “nightmare” condition that saw her crippled with pain.

Australian television personality Denise Drysdale suffered debilitating facial pain before her surgery. Picture: Russell Shakespeare

TV and entertainment legend Denise Drysdale has revealed she underwent “scary” brain surgery to combat the debilitating, “nightmare”, nerve condition Trigeminal Neuralgia which saw her in constant pain.

Drysdale, 74, was diagnosed with TN, a condition that affects the trigeminal nerve in the face, in mid 2021 after experiencing her first searing pain attack in March of that year.

“It is like electrical shocks in the head, like a lightning bolt across your face, and you have no warning when they come,” Drysdale said.

“The first time I had one I was walking along the street; they just cripple you.

“It got so bad, when I woke up in the morning I would just lie there frightened because I knew as soon as I sat up it would start. It hurt to breathe. It would hurt when I talked.”

As the indomitable force that she is, Drysdale continued to perform with her band and appear on the Channel 10 TV show Studio 10 while coping with the TN pain.

Drysdale, 74, was diagnosed with TN, a condition that affects the trigeminal nerve in the face. Picture: Jerad Williams

“I saw some segments that I did during that time and everyone would think I was just mucking around, but I am doing cocktail sauce and I am going ‘what is this sauce called? I don’t know what it is called,’ and I just could not remember,” she said.

“I’d be doing a segment and I would not ask any questions, I would just be silent, so it really affected me.

“When we were doing shows I would say to the band if I suddenly go off stage just keep playing and singing, we will be right.”

A year ago this week - June 2022 - Drysdale, the 1975 Gold Logie winner, underwent brain surgery in Sydney.

The three hour surgery, which has left her with a small scar near her right ear, was a complete success.

“I tried everything and I suffered with it (TN) for about a year and a half and then I finally bit the bullet and went and had the operation,” she said.

“As soon as I had the operation the pain stopped immediately and I have not had anything since. It was pretty scary, but I am all right.

“To come out of that pain, which was just unbearable, to come out the other end, that is the amazing thing.

“My wonderful Doctor Jonker, I think he learnt sewing from the nuns because his stitching was bloody perfect.”

Drysdale is joining with her great friend Normie Rowe and will bring their The Two Of Us show to Shoppingtown Hotel, Doncaster on June 30 and The Sphinx Hotel, Geelong on July 1.

Normie Rowe and Drysdale have teamed up for new show called The Two of Us. Picture: Supplied.

She continues to appear on Studio 10 and remains and unstoppable force in entertainment.

However, while Drysdale put her TN horror behind her, she is still carrying a shoulder injury after falling and breaking her shoulder on the set of the Channel 7 show Holey Moley in October 2020. Drysdale was hooked up to electrodes at the time while taking part in a “Frankenputt” mini golf challenge on the now axed show.

“I should not have been there,” she said.

“If they had told me they were going to electrocute me, which they didn’t, they did not say anything until 1 o’clock in the morning when we were filming (and) my first thought was ‘I am going home.’

“Then I look around and there is a camera crew and audience and I say ‘just do it’ and, of course, I fell.”

Tickets for Drysdale’s Doncaster and Geelong shows are available at:

Shoppingtown Hotel, June 30, – 19 Williamsons Road, Doncaster

https://liveatyourlocal.com.au/event/normie-rowe-denise-drysdale-in-the-two-of-us/

Sphinx Hotel, July 1, - 2 Thompson Road, North Geelong

https://events.ticketbooth.com.au/event/the-two-of-us-starring-normie-