Trigeminal Neuralgia

[sanjay155]

Hi all My age is 23, I am suffering from Trigeminal neuraljia since 7 years. It started with frequent electric shock like attacks in my left jaw. As usual we went to a dentist and later came to know that it is TN. We consulted a neurologist who diagnosed it as TN.I also went through CT scan and MRI which came out to be normal. My period of attacks were very infrequent 4 or 5 times in a day. I started with carbamazepine 200 mg 3 times a day. I started to recover and withing 2 months there were no pain attacks. Slowly and gradually I started reducing my doses over a period of 10 years. Today I hardly take 100mg once in 5 days. But fact is that I have to take the tablets. Kindly study my case and let me know that in future can it become more acute or i will be able to recover from it completely? Please let me know if you need some more information.

[Michael Lim, MD]

Do you still experience episodes of TN if you stop your meds completely?

[Michael Lim, MD]

If your pain is not electrical in nature, it may not by trigeminal neuralgia.  I would suggest seeing a neurologist or pain specialist to get a reevaluation.

[sanjay155]

Thanks for your prompt response...

[sanjay155]

If i stop my meds completely, I start feeling a slight pain but not those typical electric current type of feeling... as a result of which i start taking medicines again. As such i have never felt typical TN pain attacks since last 6 years. And  i have reduced my dosages from 900 mg / day to 100 mg / week during this period. But still I have to take once in a week.. or else i will start feeling slight pain after one month of stopping medicines.