Gamma knife?
More Tegretol?
My mother has no life and she's clinically depressed because of Tegretol.
From your experience as a TN patient, what do you think are her options?
I would ask her Dr to try her on a different medication. For me personally I can truly say that I was a much happier person on Neurontin than Tegretol. So there is a huge difference in what you take. However as a non Dr I am only offering an opinion not a medical decision. That must be reached with more help from a medical professional. Good luck for her.
Thanks so much Jackie. We'll certainly ask her doctor about Neurontin!
Jackie said:
I would ask her Dr to try her on a different medication. For me personally I can truly say that I was a much happier person on Neurontin than Tegretol. So there is a huge difference in what you take. However as a non Dr I am only offering an opinion not a medical decision. That must be reached with more help from a medical professional. Good luck for her.
I agree with Jackie and I'm also on Neurontin. The other medications didn't work and gave me an allergic reaction. I hope your mother is also on some strong pain medications. Most patients with Atypical TN couldn't function without them.
Thank you Gloria :)
I wonder if Neurontin is as strong as Tegretol. I certainly hope that it is.
Gloria E. said:
I agree with Jackie and I'm also on Neurontin. The other medications didn't work and gave me an allergic reaction. I hope your mother is also on some strong pain medications. Most patients with Atypical TN couldn't function without them.
Neurontin is "different" from Tegretol. My wife has also been using this med for the past ten years after switching at her own request from Tegretol. Neurontin "takes the tip off the iceberg" for her, reducing her overall pain peaks but leaving a low background of aching pain. That's an acceptable trade from her perspective. Neurontin has had fewer side effects for her than Tegretol did.
RE Gamma Knife, my advice as a layman who has studied the medical literature of facial pain for over 16 years, would be "don't go there." The procedure has been associated with peripheral damage to areas around the target zone, including nerve adhesions to surrounding tissue (arachnoiditis). It is also less effective than MVD over the long term, with about 50% of all first-time GK patients having pain recurrence within five years. If your mother is considering a second surgery, then it may be useful to talk with the provider of her first MVD about doing a repeat of the procedure.
Regards and best,
R.A. "Red" Lawhern, Ph.D.
Resident Research Analyst, LwTN
Thanks so much Red, that was very helpful.
The problem with my mom's neurosurgeon is that he's a liar and he did a horrible job with the MVD that the pain recurred in no time after the surgery and he lied in her medical report. We also live in Africa which means we have to leave the country to get proper medical help. I try to find out everything I can online before we travel and then it's just a matter of finding a good neurologist and neurosurgeon.
It seems that you have done a lot of research on TN, which of the injections have proved to be the safest and least invasive in your opinion?
There are also anti-derpessants that can be used to help treat TN so I would try to get her on some of them. They have helped me. I take Amitrptylin now.
It's just that she's already on sooooooooooo many pills. She's at 1200 mg of Tegretol and 200 mg of Ipanten. I cant help but worry about the effect of adding any more pills. What if they interact together? =(
Davidl79 said:
There are also anti-derpessants that can be used to help treat TN so I would try to get her on some of them. They have helped me. I take Amitrptylin now.
I don't blame you at all. What my doctor did was lower the dosage of one of my meds and added the Amitrptylin. It sucks trying to keep track of all the meds and making sure they all interact together. After the doctors give me the meds I go to www.webmd.com just to double check for myself.
Asmara, there is an excellent drug interactions checker at http://www.drugs.com, as well as authoritative information on drug side effects and appropriate precautions. Another resource is http://www.rxlist.com. If interactions are a concern to you then I suggest you use the capabilities at these sites and then discuss what you find with your mother's primary physician.
Regards, Red