Trigeminal Neuralgia (Facial Nerve Pain) (cont.)
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Medications
Doctors use 3 main drugs to treat trigeminal neuralgia-baclofen (Lioresal), carbamazepine (Tegretol), and phenytoin (Dilantin).
- Baclofen is the safest of the 3, though less effective. Many doctors begin therapy with baclofen and monitor its results over a week's time.
- For years, carbamazepine had been the mainstay for treating this disorder. In fact, many experts believe that if you get no relief from 2 days of carbamazepine treatment, doctors must reconsider the diagnosis of trigeminal neuralgia.
- The side effects of this drug include dizziness, sedation, confusion, and rash.
- The doctor likely will complete a series of blood
and urine tests before beginning treatment to establish a baseline of
laboratory values.
- Carbamazepine in unusual instances causes a rare blood disease known as aplastic anemia.
- Frequent blood monitoring avoids this problem. You can expect to take consistent doses of this medicine for about 6 months before your doctor reconsiders the dosing schedule.
- The side effects of this drug include dizziness, sedation, confusion, and rash.
Learn more about medications like baclofen (Lioresal), carbamazepine (Tegretol), and phenytoin (Dilantin) on RxList.com.
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Trigeminal Neuralgia »
Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is a common and potentially disabling pain syndrome, the precise pathophysiology of which remains obscure.
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