Hi Roz,
I took tegretol for yrs. for my sz. it made me a bit moody but it was helpful controling my sz. The one thing I didn't like about tegretol is that you can't eat grapefruit or drink grapefruit juice because of the enzymes in the fruit. They will mess up the tegretol. Also I had kidney stones from taking tegretol and I sure wouldn't want you to go through that wicked pain.
As far as neurontin my advice to you is to stay away from the drug it can cause a persons sz. to become more severe. I was on neurontin for pain after a concussion and I ended up having status sz. my spelling went down hill, and so did my short term memory. My family Dr. was the one who put me on the drug and when my epi saw what he did he took me off the drug and the status sz. stopped but it left more brain damage. The drug company that makes neurontin has over $240 million in lawsuits on them for how the drug has affected people.
My advice to you is to try and take vitamin B12 if the pain has anything to do with the nervous system. It has helped me a lot and it also has reduced my sz. Here's wishing you the best of luck and May God Bless You!

Sue