Hi All. I have been on Tegretol on and off for 3 years. (the off bit when I was pregnant.) I also had MVD surgery which did not work and so have been taking my Tegretol in the evening nad the morning. I am now on 1200mg daily and I was taking this 600mg in morn and 600mg in the eve,this was leaving me quite spaced out and so with my docs advice I have started 300mg four times a day! Gos I am tired after all that explaination. Anyway I am just wondering how you all take your meds?? And am doing it the best possible way for pain relief as it does not feel that way!! Karen
Hi Karen I take the CR Tegretol which is the slow release kind and i take 400mg 3 x a day (1200mg like you) I have Atypical TN so it could be better for me to ensure that the meds are well spaced out however i do have pain that peaks in the afternoon. i also take topamax twice a day. i think your doctor is probably giving you the best advice - evenly spaced out doses - plus, 600mg is quite alot of tegretol so the smaller doses will hopefully decrease that spaced out feeling - but you may find that it’ll take a week or so to adjust to the medication change, even though it’s just a time change it will probably still effect you - but lets hope thats its positive 
Best wishes Karen!
Hi Susan
Thanks for your reply. Can I ask you are you able to work on this dose as to be honest I feel I can barely make normal decisions? Also excuse my ignorance but what is Atypical as I have never been told either? Karen
Hi Karen
I too was told Atypical.I was taking 2000mg of Teg a day to which controlled my pain.I too had MVD surgery Jan 29 2010.I am still pain & med free today.I would take the side effects over TN PAIN any day.Nice to meet you Hope your days are pain free Godbless 
Hi Karen, when I was first diagnosed it was august 2009 and I was lucky I was studying. At that time I could cope with the workload. But when i went into summer school i had to go up to 800mg and by the following January the pain was unbearable. I had to pull out of my exams and haven’t been able to finish my studies since. I went up to 1200mg in February - and to be honest i seemed to cope better on the 1200mg than the 800mg as the side effects were horrendous. By this time my days were a matter of getting up, dragging myself to the couch and laying there till bedtime - i really wasn’t doing well. In April i was able to get in to see a Neurologist and he put me on Topamax. Within a week i had a huge turn-around. I hadn’t been able to read, spend much on the computer, i was crying constantly and anyway, just reiterating - i was not in a good space. The Neuro just said to me that the Tegretol wasn’t working for me - even though originally it did give me relief, i had to keep getting increases and the side effects were so terrible. So the goal is to try other meds. So right now, i’m going to try and finish the
studies i had to pull out of at summer school (exams this june!) i’m so determined as months on the couch drives you bonkers. For your other question Atypical TN is different to the typical TN in that i don’t get the zap-zap-zap mine is a constant, all day pain. There are similarities in that its usually one side of the face and we’re still dealing with the Trigeminal Nerve in the face. Mine feels like a crushing pain like someones slowly pushing my face into a concrete wall. Anyway, hope this all helps Karen