Post Herpatic Neuralgia Treatment

I have suffered with Post Herpatic Neuralgia for the past four years & eleven months.  My problem is pain, burning, itching & stinging. It starts just below my left eye & goes up through my eyebrow (the entire width of my eyebrow) up through my forehead in about a 2 ½" wide path into my scalp to the crown of my head. No other area is involved.  On a pain scale of 1 - 10, the pain is almost always a 3 - 4. There is also a sharp intermitent stinging pain in the inside corner of the eye. I believe it is a nerve ending firing out a pain signal. I have tried all kinds of drugs, Neurontin, Lyrica, Gabrapentin, Tegretol, Tramadol, Lidocain patches, Capsacian cream, Lidocain liquid. I have also tried Acupuncture and Infared treatments.  I have been to two pain managment clinics and was injected in my eyebrow and scalp with some kind of pain medication.  The medicine relived the pain for little while.  As soon as the medicine wore off,  I was right back to where I started.  The damaged nerve endings caused some damage to my eye and vision. I would like to know, if there is any existing, new or experimental treatment for my problem.  Is there any alternative to drugs. When I was taking all of the drugs listed above, it kept me in a brain fog and a stupor. This is not an acceptable situation, I would rather be in pain than a constant brain fog. The worst thing about my situation is the pain, burning, stinging and itching never stops, it goes on 24/7.  After enduring almost Five years of this, I am aware that there is not suppose to be any normal cure for my problem, I was hoping for some new discovery or procedure.  Please Help  

[Sandy Feldman, MD, MS]

Dear oran,

This does represent a difficult situation as chronic pain affects one’s quality of life.  It sounds as if you have been on many medications, which have not helped.  I would recommend that you seek the care of an eyeMD to determine whether there might be something else to try to alleviate your constant pain.

Dr. Feldman

Sandy T. Feldman, M.D., M.S.
ClearView Eye and Laser Medical Center
San Diego, California

[Oran]

Thank you very much, I appreciate your comments. I was hoping for a more promising
answer.  I have been under an ophthalmolgist care for the past 4 years and 11 months
He has not been able to tell me anything useful. I am sorry I did not elaborate enough on all of the thing that I have already tried. There was not enough space in this foram to tell my entire history. If you have any other suggestions I would really like to hear them. I have had this problem for so long, I am very frustrated.  Please help, if you can.