I had started a discussion about two to three months ago when my TN had been at it's worst. Since then I have gone throught different type of meds and also tried therapy to help litterally "calm my nerves".
I had started back in September on Lyrica (which did nothing for my TN) and pain killers. The pain killers helped with the pain but I was high, all the time. It started interfering with my job, my love life and my friends. In October, I got a really bad flu. I decided to stop Lyrica even though it wasn't recommended since it would have bad side effects. Silly me, I started having breathing problems and could hardly swallow a piece of bread because I had the feeling it would get stuck in my throat...
One night when the side effects were so intense, I finally decided to go to the emergency. A young doctor prescribed Tegratol in chewable tablets.
I have been pain free since then and feel subtle soarness from time to time, but I feel like my life is back on track. The only thing is that if I miss a dose, the pain will come back for around two weeks, so I've really tried to be more responsible with my meds.
I have also started homeopathic therapies with a yoga instructor. I feel as if my stress is the main reason TN is part of my life now and I need to control it so it doesn't completely take over.
Has anyone had a similar progression and tried natural ways to deal with TN?
I'm finding you doing great. A lot better than myself after episode lasting around 3 months. As far as I remember I only had pain killer/effective pain killer prescribed over 10 years ago (Vioxx – rofecoxib, not available now). Out of experience, there are lots of things I would have done different now, although some decisions I made proved brilliant, finding right consultants for example or refusing to switch to gabapentine in the middle of the worst episode ever, where fear and pain motivated me not to. I actually started to listen to my own fear and made good use of it. I'm glad I finally met specialists... only after getting well (no pain, no meds), because waiting time is so long...
I was prescribed generic Carbamazepine along with Vioxx ages ago by a specialist and due to side effects quickly progressed to branded Tegretol. There was slight improvement. I have always had terrible side effects from Cbzp/Tegretol until I could properly discuss things with specialists. To them it was obvious I should try oxcarbazepine and I first was prescribed generic form (experience with generics always far from good) and then I asked specifically for branded Trileptal. This changed things for the better. I was on Trileptal for several days lately due to problem with the dentist and earlier in the past and I must admit it works pretty well for me.
Don't know how I'd go on higher doses (complete misery very likely), I usually try not to cause myself more harm than required by not waiting for full blown TN. It was GP who came up with Gabapentin idea while I was on Tegretol with lots of side effects and liver problems. I knew it wasn't possible to change just like that and while still in pain (Tegretol controlled the sharpest pain, longest/worst attacks were behind me and then the rest subsided), I wasn't offered any painkillers for transitory period (ibuprofen+paracetamol don't work). Had I tried Gabapentin then I would be in pain and completely unable to function for longer, I'd be back to my worst.
I was in a situation some time ago when GP tried to treat me solely with Ibuprofen, this doesn't even qualify for comment.