I was diagnosed with atypical facial pain. I had mild facial pain on the left side of my face for 4 years on and off thinking it was TMJ. I had sinus surgery a little over a year ago which didn’t work. I had a second sinus surgery 3 months ago, and have been suffering ever since. I have pain on both sides of my face, but when it moves to my right side the burning and stabbing is more intense. I tried 25 mg of amitryptiline for a month. It didn’t work. I got off of it, and I am on 100 mg. of gabapentin twice a day. I am not getting any relief. Does anyone have any suggestions?
That's a relatively low dose of gabapentin, though that dose actually works for me. How long have you been taking gabapentin? Did your doctor prescribe it such that you are to increase the dose every few days for a while? That's how my initial script was written but I stopped at 200 mg/day because that was effective and I already hated the side effects at that dose.
I have a feeling the Dr. will increase it next time I see him. I have been on it for 3 weeks. I also do not like to take medications due to their side effects. How long did it take until it worked for you?
I felt relief within one to two weeks. Given the dosages I've seen in other people's posts here, though, I think my reaction to medication might put me outside of the norm. A lot of people seem to take much higher doses of the three medications I've tried so far, all of which worked for me in terms of relief from pain at fairly low doses but all of which also came with various side effects. So far gabapentin has been the best for me since it's a little less sedating than the other two meds I tried.
I am also hoping that less sedating meds will work. Amitryptiline made me very tired in the morning, and I did not like feeling that way.