This weekend was an extremely hard (physically) one for me - the outcome was three days of pure hell-ish pain. I went to see my doc yesterday and he put me on a steroid for the next 5 days and Clonazepam .5mg once a day to add to the Trileptal 450mg twice a day...has anyone else been put on this combination? Sure would appreciate your input on what to expect. Thank you!
Cris
Trileptal is one of the better tolerated anti-convulsive drugs, Cris. It may take a while to build up in your blood stream. The dose you are on is toward the low end of the therapeutic range when the medication is used alone. Clonazepam (Klonopin) is a benzodiazepine used commonly in anxiety disorder and panic disorder, as well as to treat certain types of seizures. Both of these drugs are fairly well known as "off-label" treatments for trigeminal neuropathic pain. It's possible that your physician prescribed the combination in an effort to boost the overall effectiveness of Trileptal. I'm uncertain of the role he expects to be played by the steroid (cortisone? prednisone?) as that class of drugs is anti-inflammatory in nature and TN is not generally regarded as an inflammatory disorder.
Both of these meds can have side effects, particularly as you are acclimating to them in the first few days to weeks. To read up further on either or both, you might start with rxlist.com or drugs.com. Feel free to post additional questions in this thread. Likewise suggest you run a search in our search window at top right, for the drug names. You may find others who have not posted in some time, but have used the combination you identify.
Go in Peace and Power
R.A. "Red" Lawhern, Ph.D.
Resident Research Analyst, LwTN
Note: I am not a licensed physician. I've been assisting face pain patients with online research and interpretation of medical literature for over 17 years.
thanks Red...how does the Clonazepam help to boost the Trilep? I have been on it for about 6 months now and have had one other round of steroid to 'help' in quieting a really hard flare up...it certainly does not help for any longer than the time I take it, and I reminded them of this; but still was ordered it... honestly, I 'll do anything to STOP this horrific pain this time around... anywho...
I read the side affects on the Clonaz and was very disconcerted about take it; as I already feel 'fuzzy' and it is hard to focus most of the time. I took the first one tonite after talking with my pharmacist for a while and her saying "do not drive if you take this"...ok, sure. Just one thing after another, isn't it...
Cris, I'm not enough of a physical chemist to speak reliably on how these two drugs might reinforce each other. I only know that the effect is sometimes observed. Clonazepam is also not the only "booster" used with Trileptal. Some physicians prescribe Baclofen, Phenoytin, Flexeril or Valium. Likewise, if you have long-acting burning steady pain (TN Type 2), it may also be useful to be tried on one of the tricyclic antidepressant drugs like Amitriptyline or Nortriptyline. They are known to have a cross-action against trigeminal neuropathic pain , which is somewhat different from neuralgia as such.
Good evening,
Red
Hi Chris,
I'm sorry you've had such horrible pain. Hope the Trileptal works for you; I was allergic. The clonopin is good (you might need a little more than .5 but it's always good to start low and go up). It helps if you clench or have a lot of tension in your jaw as a reaction to the pain. The steroid, I hope it's prednisone...that can be really good news. Even though it's just a week long treatment, it made me feel better than I've felt in 5 yrs of TN. My pain mgt doc gave it to me to rid the remnants of an ear & sinus infection, and I don't care what it's for, it worked. The pain didn't stay permanently gone, but it gave me an overall improvement. I've been taking effexor for little over a month at 225mg and I feel it's worked better than anything else I've tried. I had to start low at 37.5mg and work up. Once I hit 225mg I could feel the difference every day. Bet you'll be feeling real good in a day or two from the steroid. The scary side effects connected to steroids apply to long term use, not the week-long treatment.
I hope you update with how you feel on the trileptal. Good luck to you!
I've heard of a few people getting on and off steroids and it worked. Clonazapam - will lower your stress level too -
Stress = pain attacks -- so it works in more than just one way! Even if you have moments of no pain - your brain and body are still stressed.
thanks guys! you are all so right! one might think you have been there before ! ^-^
I truly hope you have a great weekend; as I am hoping this prednisone will be kicking in and the Clonazapam will be doing the 'destressin' and I will be just a puddle of jello for a couple of days... :D
Since we are discussing different treatments being used...I had a VERY bad day a couple weeks ago, ended up going to the ER in hopes of finding some relief. The pain was so bad that I was throwing up and couldn't keep my medication down.
I am allowed 2 Lortabs daily and well they just werent touching this pain, it was horrid. I seriously asked my husband to put me out of my misery.
Anyways, at the ER, they gave me a shot of Reglin in the rear and two benedryls. I was a bit skeptical about this because I always feel like the Dr's are thinking I am a pain pill seeker, someone who would complain of anything to get narcotics. Most Dr's I find really don't have alot of knowledge about TN. But I can honestly say that the reglin/benedryl combo actually did bring my pain down to a more tolerable level.