trigeminal neuralgia, how can a person live with this?

[Kimberly-Walker]

  i was diagnosed with trigeminal neuralgia today and am currently in tears because all of the information that i have found has not been hopeful in releasing the pain.  i do have something wrong with my kidneys (had obstruction as child but was told i would grow out of it) but when i get overtired or do too many strenuous things my urine is rather dark.  Now i have trigeminal neuralgia and for the past two weeks have taken a bottle of eighty ibuprofen, prescribed tegretol and tylenol with codiene.  It seems that this would be hard on my kidneys, not to mention my sanity. i just graduated college in December and have only been employed for seven months.  i dont see how i will be able to continue working if this pain does not stop.  i haven't found out quite what this is, but i went to a maxillofacial surgeon around six months ago and he poked one of my facial nerves sending extreme pain throughout my face.  i have had four episodes of this severe pain that i am undergoing today since then.  My questions are:  Will the medication damage my kidneys/liver etc. and could this condition be caused from damage to that nerve in my face? i have had two teeth pulled because i thought that that was the problem. Also, my husband and i were planning on pregnancy within the next few months, will this be possible?  How long do these pain episodes last?  i don't have any information on this.
  Please help me.
Dear Kimberly,
Trigeminal Neuralgia consists of paroxysms of intense, stabbing pain in the cheek and jaw.  The pain usually lasts a few seconds frequently causing the patient to wince.  Another common feature of TN is the initiation of pain from certain triggers such as moving th jaw, chewing, cold, or stimulating certain areas of the face.  The diagnosis is usually mad on clinical grounds and must be differentiated from other causes of facial pain such as teeth and gum disease, TMJ, tumors, and aneursyms.  Occasionly, the trigeminal nerve (this is the nerve symptomatic in TN) is compressed by a tortuous blood vessel and can be surgically corrected.  An MRI/MRA would be a helpful test to evaluate for this as well as some of the other conditions listed.  There are several medications available to help lessen or decrease the severity of the attacks including Dilantin, valproic acid, tegretol, and clonazepam. The medications can be used alone or in combination. Tegretol is broken down in the liver not the kidneys. If your renal function is followed routinely and drugs dosages are reduced as indicated this should not pose a huge problem.  A few patients have success with stadol nasal spray.  Discuss these options with your doctor.  If you are interested in getting an evaluation at CCF, call 1-800-CCF-CARE.  Good Luck.