Pain after 2 MVD surgeries

I had MVD on June 1st of this year and again on the 14th. During the last month I have started having pains again, they are not horrible because most of the left side of my face is still numb from the surgery. I am still taking 200mg of Tegretol. This has me so worried. I did the surgery because I am a single mom with two daughters and I can not live my life in pain. Any thoughts? Has anyone else dealt with this? My surgeon told me it cold take 18 months for everything to really be back to normal, but if I am having pain now what is going to happen when the numbness is gone? Thanks for your support!

I was told by my TOP neurosurgeon in the TN field - that things may not settle down into place for a year. See if you can get RX lidocaine patches for topical relief - they are magic for some of us!

That's how I lowered my meds with the patches - they last 12 hours.

What about headaches? Do you get them? I have never had headaches until now and when they come on they are very painful.

I had headache for 1-2 weeks - if you don't want to take a heavy narcotic - can you take Tramadol? I don't like heavy narcotics unless I'm dying - so that is what I think I used. Also used bigger doses of advil - switched off between the two