It seems no matter what I try, I get no relief 
Anyone else experience this, have advice?
They put me in tegratol 3 days in I was worse they tried gabapentin I was worse within 2 doses ibprofen doesnt touch it I get some relief from a icepack on the.back of my neck but u can only do it 20 min every hr who wants to live their life laying in bed though
Hi, it takes time (unfortunately) to find a therapeutic level of a med or combo of meds that work for a period of time. everyone is different… I’m struggling right now, I use a heating pad on my face, ear, cheek,teeth to try and take the edge off, it doesn’t always work.
It’s frustrating, definately call your doctor ASAP to discuss increasing or adding to your meds…
(( hugs )) Mimi
For hope of instant relief get an Rx of prescription lidocaine cream or patches for topical pain on face
saved my sanity while I waited for the meds to kick in !
Hi Sarah,
Sometimes it takes time to find the right cocktail of medications for your TN. On top of this it takes for some of these medications to get to therapeutic level in your system, and add some time just for them to get into your system. It is tiring and frustrating I know, a lot of us have Ben where your at and it’s no fun at all. You make want to try a complamentry therapy like acupressure or message therapy. These can often aid to the pharmaceutical therapy of treatment of TN. Keep in mind sometimes it’s not about the medicine making it so you have no pain from the TN but rather keeping your pain level at point where you are functional. This later point is scary to hear at first and may take time to accept, and I don’t think all TN suffers may have to deal with that. Keep trying different combos drugs till you and your doctor/s find the right one for you. You will find the right medicine for you it just might take some time. Hope you find the right treatment soon and have a pain free day.
Thank you all for responding, it has definitely been a rough road and I'm not a huge fan of medication juggling. My neurologist prescribed Norco for the pain, but like Kari says, the hard part is trying to stay functional. I love the idea of trying other types of therapy (massage, acupressure, etc) but I'm at the mercy of the US Army. Though the healthcare is free and they've been pretty quick to get my referrals through (seeing that this isn't an issue that can be drug on for months), they don't seem to be very big fans of "alternative" medicine. I'm supposed to be seeing a neurosurgeon soon, as soon as I get an appointment, with UNC (Univ of North Carolina - Chapel Hill), so hopefully he'll be able to help or at least give me alternatives that my neurologist can't.
I appreciate all the advice though, and I'm trying to be patient. The one good thing that has come from all of this is that my daily headache, which has been pretty much constant for the last 3 or 4 years, has subsided quite a bit......so even though I'm still suffering from the TN, I'm not dealing with a constant headache :)