Originally Posted by Mylastnerve

Hi NT,
It sounds like you are weighing whether to increase your medication or not. That is a common thing for us with TN - whether to put up with sometimes significant side effects in order to reduce the pain. You are not alone on that one. Sometimes it is helpful to try a combination of 2 different meds, or another type of med. I take Oxcarbazepine, a cousin of your medication. In addition to that, I take another anti-seizure med, gabapentin. I find gabapentin fairly tolerable. Cousin to gabapentin is Lyrica, which also can work. I also take an anti-depressant, nortriptyline. Other people here take it's cousin, amitriptyline. So there are some basic things that doctors will try, some anti-sezure, some antidepressant. There are many other meds besides these that people find helpful.
My first medication was the nortriptyline. I felt that it was really helpful at first, and the side effects were minimal.
So, if you need more relief, talk to your doctor - it's possible, at your level, to get some more relief with fairly minimal side effects.
I'm sorry that you have to deal with this - but you are fortunate to have pain that is more a discomfort than paralizing (not to minimize it, cause it can be a real bother!!). But it is good to stay on top of it nonetheless so that is stays low.
I hope that this is helpful,
Lily