effects of Gabapentin
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Hallo all writing at 5am as pain keeping me awake and computer good distraction until pain settles.Iam on 1200 GABAPENTIN AND 25 Amytriptiline at night.Seems to settle nerve down in that sensation still ther ay times but MUCH more bearable.Just wondered if other people find that meds take ling time to kick in as took about 3 wks to work in my case. Sometimes think that TN does what it likes and goes away of its own accord whatever you do!! Am trying Cranio sacral therapy so will let you know how it goes
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Guest
Posted
I really am so sorry to hear of your condition :oops:
I was diagnosed with Trigeminal Neuralgia about 7 years ago.
I was prescribed Carbamazepine at the time and also advised to keep a supply in.
It took a month for mine to calm down (go into recession)
Ocassionally I have very slight attacks - one tablet sometimes 2 and it seems to keep it at bay.
I was aso told it can go into remission for years orif you are really lucky never see it again.
It is best to try and avoid things that might trigger TN
I can't remember all the things I was told to be careful of but the ones I do, I never fail to do them.
I daren't use cold water to clean my teeth for instance. If it;s windy wear a hood or better still a close fitting hat.
I very rarely get the waaaaaaaaaaaa ouch shock pain anymore. Sometimes I can have a few sharp pains that go as quick as they arrived but they are bad enough to take my breath away and hold my hand to my face.
I have been one of the lucky ones and have't had another bout of TN like I did 7 years ago.
Good luck
Melbi x
lush
Posted
Guest
Posted
Hi Lush
With time you will learn to recognise what triggers your TN. I only take a tablet now if I feel I have 'put myself at risk', done something that I know can trigger a bout of TN.
Having said that, one trigger, they say, is stress. I have been under an extremely large amount of stress over the last 12 months and in all honesty I can say I haven't experienced any of the excruciating pain that TN causes. I have had a few stabbing painful aches in and around my eye and left side of forehead but they haven't lasted long enough to cause me to panic and grab the tablets.
Going off memory now - when I first had TN I remember how the pain would come on so rapidly and without warning - painful enough to make me drop anything I might have been holding at the time.
I wish you all the luck in the world that you too recover and remain in remission too.
Take good care of yourself.
Has your doctor mentioned the operation you can have should it keep recurring?
Melbi x
shebo
Posted
Ruthie1
Posted
I started off on Amitriptyline, which made absolutely no difference, so I then tried Gabapentin. It really helps with the burning ache I get, and with the pain behind my eye, but when I have the awful shooting pains, it's still not enough. I think the best thing to do is to work out what triggers your TN and deal these things, rather than rely on a tablet. I only take gabapentin when the pain gets really bad, but if I'm having a good few days and the pain is relatively mild I cope without tablets.
For me I find cutting down on caffeine and alcohol really helps, anything like caffeine that is a stimulant only increases the nerve activity and I'm more likely to have an attack plus I always wrap up well in cold weather otherwise I have a bad attack of the dreaded shooting pains!
Another tip is don't take anything like paracetemol, neurofen, cocodamol etc, my Neurologist told me that taking off the shelf pain killers can be worse that taking nothing at all as they often make the pain worse.
Hope this helps! :D
mikel-8186
Posted