On Friday, my prescription was finally ready. My neurologist had called in Oxcarbazepine 150 mg. The dose was 2 tablets twice a day as needed for pain. I picked it up around 12:30 in the afternoon and took the first dose. I was still using the Ora Gel. It made me very sleepy, but the pain did subside. I took another dose before I went to bed but I still slept on the recliner, afraid to use my bed, (paranoid). I slept great that night. On Saturday, I took two more in the morning and again fell asleep. Saturday night another dose and I slept in my bed. The best night sleep EVER. Sunday I didn’t take any during the day, it made me too tired and I was still fighting off residual tiredness.
In my google research, they did reference taking this drug for this condition. It is a drug they use for epilepsy. The sharp shooting pains are gone, I still can’t chew on solid food and certain movements will cause a quick jolt of pain, nothing like what it was. Next week I see my neurologist, Dr. Oh at VCU and we’ll discuss it further.
I am upset that no doctors I’ve seen in the past five years were able to identify the cause of this pain. Not the dentist, who performed 3 root canals and still didn’t stop the pain, (probably weren’t necessary) or my primary care doctor, who also offered no explanation, to the endocrinologist, who at least gave me a hint that it could be neurological. That is when I finally, (don’t know what took me so long) googled, “severe facial pain,” and immediately Trigeminal neuralgia came up. So thank you Dr. Google.