Not sure where you learned that (that pain meds don't work on nerve pain), but you're wrong.

Everyone is different and some don't get any benefit from anti-seizure meds and/or can't tolerate their side-effects. Same goes for antidepressants used for neuropathic pain. Some people must rely upon pain meds to ease their pain in order to have a better quality of life.

Doctors don't like to go straight to pain meds for obvious reasons, but that doesn't mean they don't work. They DO. They have a high dependency rate and will take a considerable amount of time to taper off them...if that is the plan and the pain ends up being temporary. But Neurontin, Lyrica, Cymbalta, etc ALL have to be tapered as well for the same reason. They can be very difficult to get off them as well due to horrible withdrawal syndrome.

There are several members here that successfully use pain meds for neuropathy.