Face pain months after surgery = Trimgeminal nerve pain

Every now and then I will get face pains on the side of my face where I had the craniotomy. I was scared that I was having a side effect or developing a new aneurysm. My general doctor ordered imaging, which was all good. He suggested maybe it was trigeminal nerve pain caused by inflammation from surgery or scar tissue. It has now been 6 years since surgery and I believe he was right. I can feel the pains exactly where trigeminal nerve pain is: up above my eye, in my cheek, and on my jaw line. It is very random, usually while Iā€™m walking, but so sporadic, maybe every 6 months. Just want to put this out there as a known side effect of surgery- since our doctors donā€™t follow up and let us know these things. HAPPY HEALING! ps- all is good and Iā€™m back to normal 100%.

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Hi trekhard, I am 7 1/2 years post rupture and I have been suffering Trigemminal nerve pain for several years. My doctors put me on ā€œas neededā€ medication that really helps, so it is worth asking your doctor about it. Hope you can get some help, good luck.

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Thank you for sharing this information. I have experienced face pain periodically over the past nine years since surgery with no clue what was going on. I will research this more.

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May I ask what that med is? Thanks!

For me it has been a sharp stabbing pain, but I also get tingling nervy pain sometimes too. THe weird thing is how random it is. Just comes out of nowhere.

Hi trekhard,

Iā€™m not sure mod support allows me to give out the names of medications, so I hope I donā€™t get castigated for this.

The ER doctor prescribed this for me when I went in to the hospital in agony, and my GP has prescribed it since, it really works for me over just two or three days after an attack (I do have trigeminal neuralgia every day, but every few months I have a bad attack). My GP says it is OK to take on a regular basis, but I take it ā€œ as neededā€.

Carbamazepine CR 200 mg, I tablet twice a day as needed

The big long name on the bottle is;

Sandoz-Carbamazepine CR 200mg

Hope this helps

Good luck

Ulsterscot

Thank you, Iā€™ve never heard of that. Are you in Europe?

Hey Ulsterscot,

Nah, youā€™re OK. We do have an issue when members make comments such as ā€˜You must take ā€˜Xā€™ medicationā€¦ā€™ We are not Drā€™s. We do not know the patientā€™s history. We do not know of other medications and their interactions. Due to this making ā€˜mustā€™ statements is inappropriate.
BUT
@trekhard asked what the medication was and you provided that information. You did not make a ā€˜Mustā€™ statement, you merely described what has assisted you and weā€™re OK with that. Further to your information. ā€˜Sandozā€™ is the manufacturer. ā€˜Carbamazepineā€™ is the name of the drug. CR means ā€˜Controlled Releaseā€™ and the 200mg is the amount of active ingredient per tablet.

Although the drug name is Carbamazepine it is also made under other names by differing manufacturers, one such name is ā€˜Tegretolā€™. Carbamazepine is an anticonvulsant. It works by decreasing nerve impulses that cause seizures and nerve pain, such as trigeminal neuralgia and neuropathy.

Carbamazepine is a Rx (prescription only) medication.

Hope it helps
Merl from the Modsupport Team

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HI Merl,

Thank for that, I didnā€™t want to overstep the rules but it is good to know I didnā€™t. All I know is Iā€™m not a doctor, but my Doctors Rx me this medication and it works for me. Also trekhard asked a specific question so thank you for letting me know I was OK to answer it. I hope I made the point clear over my two responses that trekhard should talk to his/her/their Doctor

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Hi trekhard,

You are most welcome, I live in Canada and am so glad I found this support community.

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Carbamazepine = Tegretol. They have been using this class of meds for while an with great success not only with TN but other forms of neuralgia. We expect to see more used in the USA in time. The problem is that 96% of all legal narcotic pain meds in the worldare prescribed in the USA
Docs are finally backing off . But patients are expecting the instant effects of narcotics Post operative usr is one thing but for chronic pain its another.

Tegretiol is highly effective but it tkes time and does not play well with reqular pain meds (ie ot wonā€™t work. Without going into a lengthy boring explanation of drug mechanisms soufficr it say this class of medss works bvause it is modifying the pain receptor network who has finally given into an immune system also damaged that is screaming at the pain receptors that something is brokenā€¦ in anyevent it takes time to get all these systems on on the same page again. An acut solution does not work for a chronic issue. Anyway yhanks for the suggestions and discussion.

TJ

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thanks for explaining merl.

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I had the same pain for 1 1/2 and finally went away very scary

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