Does anyone have trigeminal neuralgia?
Medications Anticonvulsants such as carbamazepine, oxcarbazepine, topiramate, phenytoin, or gabapentin are generally the most effective medications. Generally speaking, opiate based analgesics offer little relief from TN attacks, but may decrease the pain sensation that is experienced by the patient. Anticonvulsant effects may be potentiated with moderate to high levels of adjuvant therapies such as baclofen and/or clonazepam. Baclofen may also help some patients eat more normally if jaw movement tends to aggravate the symptoms. If anticonvulsants do not help and surgical options have failed or are ruled out, the pain may be treated long-term with an opioid such as methadone, oxycodone or Duragesic in patch form. Low doses of some antidepressants are thought to be effective in treating neuropathic pain, but a tremendous amount of controversy exists on this topic, and their use is often limited to treating the depression that is associated with chronic pain, rather than the actual sensa
