I was wondering if anyone else has suspected coffee or caffene making your pain worse?I love my coffee and kind of went crazy day before yesterday.Well,yesterday i had lot of zaps and one severe attack!No one else would understand what im saying ,but im pretty sure you guys will.( : Before that i thought maybe i was rounding the corner.I had a Gamma Knife procedure 5 weeks ago.I was sure it was working.My pain went down to none,but when i would try to lower my Carbamazepine dosage,the pain (zaps) would return.Im taking 800 mgs of carbamazepine.Today i went to the doctor(GP) for my regular physical and to complain to him about TN of course.He gave me a lot of samples of Cymbalta to try adding it to my Carbamazepine.So that's my second question.Does anyone have good results with Cymbalta?I took one pill once and it made me loopy.Doc said it takes some getting used to.But after being caffeine free all day,i've had no pain and it's well past noon! Yea!
Hi Don,
I have been on Cymbalta for almost four weeks now (together with Gabapentin which I have been taking for eight months now) and I am having amazing results. The pain is reduced and I have only about 1 or 2 attacks per day which are also not as severe as they used to be. I actually ate an apple today without having had to chop it before! However the side effects are not easy to handle: Nausea, exhaustion, circulation problems... Sometimes I am not sure what is worse: the pain or the way the meds turn me into a Zombie!
Best of luck for you whatever you decide on!
Nina
Yes I am taking Cymbalta for my TN. Still working to come up with a long term regimen of drugs that can stabilize my TN as that I have had it only for several months. Currently on Carbamazepine 500 mg and a low dosage at Cymbalta of 30mg. Currently in a zap-free phase now on its third day. Maybe this is the denial part of my condition but I am trying creative things to try to keep this TN at bay. I think you should believe the caffeine could be a contributing factor for you until proven otherwise. If you look at how many different approaches that have provided people some relief it is hard to dis-believe about anything. I think keeping our mind "creative" towards this condition may be a important factor to learning how to live with this. Good luck!! Tina
Thanks Nina and Tina.( : Im going to hang onto the Cymbalta and hopefully wont need it.I am trying to have faith in the gamma knife treatment.Neurosurgeon said his results were 80%.Mine was a bit complicated because i have a AVM very close to the trigeminol area.That's the reason he didn't want to do the decompression.My AVM has already been treated also so i'm all done with radiation i guess.I have noticed in the past a lessening of intensity when i cut out the caffeine so i'm hanging on to that! Take care,Don
Something to remember about coffee is that it is also quite acidic. I can tolerate the caffeine in a cup or two of black tea, but coffee is a big trigger, as well as other acidic foods and beverages (which includes carbonated beverages, carbonation turns acid the moment it comes in contact with the inside of the mouth).
Nice info,thanks.I was jonesing for coffee this morning and instead am sitting here with a cup of green tea.Not bad at all.Ive given up the sodas already.
Bellalarke said:
Something to remember about coffee is that it is also quite acidic. I can tolerate the caffeine in a cup or two of black tea, but coffee is a big trigger, as well as other acidic foods and beverages (which includes carbonated beverages, carbonation turns acid the moment it comes in contact with the inside of the mouth).
Hi Don and everbody,
wanted to let you know that I am declairing the Cymbalta-trial a failure! I just cannot deal with the side effects anymore. Some days I was not even able to climb the stairs to our appartment. It breaks my heart because the results as far as the pain is concerned were amazing. Waking up without pain! I could not believe it. However when I lowered the dose to 30mg the side effects remained the same but the pain slowley returned. I am now stopping completly and according to my doctor I will have to wait until the side effects wear off until I can start something different. Until then I guess I have a few hard days ahead of me...
I will ask my doctor for Nortriptyline (Thanks Shindig!).
Deanna,Sorry for the bad turn of events.I never tried the Cybalta samples my doctor gave me.If my severe attacks return i think i will,but it made me so loopy before i'm hoping i don't need to go there.
The Gamma Knife procedure seems to be taking nice effect for me.(fingers crossed)When and if it returns im going to look into the nerve stimulator my gp has suggested if possible.Don