Welcome, TN Really Hurts,

Your TN pain sounds very severe, and it must have hit you while you were working at your truckdriving job.

I'm not sure why your neuro reacted so dismissively. Maybe he just disapproves of the gamma knife procedure in general as it does seem to be a fairly involved experience--and you might not see any improvement in the TN until a month or more later:

Gamma Knife Surgery: What it Treats, How Performed, Risks & Benefits

This is a radiation treatment, and you might want to consider whether you really would like to try it. It sounds as if you have been noticing some progress in your battle to get rid of the TN pain.

You might want to think about staying with the more conservative drug treatment that your neuro has prescribed--and you could probably do that even if you change neuros.

TN seems to be one of those neurological problems where time and more time is needed, but if you can wait it out, that's probably the best way to go. But if the pain is unbearable and you're unable to function, you should find a neuro who will be willing and able to offer you a different treatment, like the gamma knife procedure.

I believe TN has been discussed here before and this is where I first looked on the net.

Alternative and Complementary Treatment Options for Trigeminal Neuralgia | PainScale

Did you by chance do the covid shots? They are known to exacerbate health issues...

Hello TN Really Hurts
You really have been through a lot with Covid in January and Shingles in February and then the TN!

We do have a TN Forum here, and although it is not currently very active, there is a lot of archived info there that might be helpful to you as well
https://www.neurotalk.org/trigeminal-neuralgia/

Thank You all so much for your responses. I am out of family leave, but I spoke with the admin and believe they will give me a two month extension. I am 63 and if I can work 1 1/2 years more I can get Medicare. The biggest problem I have is the cost of COBRA. That is of course dealing with this pain and waking up every morning with my nerve freezing cold, and stumbling and forgetting everything due to the drugs,

I was leaning towards Gamma Knife as it is less intrusive, but after reviewing the information in this website (can't post link because I have fewer than 10 posts, ************* I am leaning towards MDV surgery if I cannot resolve this in the near future. It appears to have the highest long range success rate. And I hate the idea of surgery. In the meantime I will continue with the chiropractor and may try myofascial release. I need to do more research on that.

Most of all thank you because I am beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel. My old neurologist was painting a very dark picture.

Hopefully I can get my life back.

Thank You
Kevin

You might look at short term disability. It can tide you over til retirement age or until you are able to go back to work.
https://www.neurotalk.org/social-security-disability/

You might look into..
Cold laser - also called soft laser or low level laser
Acupuncture
Acupuncture in the management of trigeminal neuralgia - PubMed