The nerve does not, should not, be severed. They need to place a teflon sponge in between the artert and the nerve. Boom. You are fixed. No severing.

My thoughts exactly.

Diagnosed few days ago... pain has been on and off for several years.. followed typical pattern. treatment for sore throats,,T&A age 40, metal taste in mouth,,dental work,acid reflux, the last year has been 50% full of pain... just started triliptal and tapering up to 2400mg over next month with nuerologist orders... day three and nausea begins... Any how any informations will be helpful!... tips for pain releif,,,, work,,,dealing with focusing,, i seem to have short term memory issues,,

Unfortunately, the only tips I can give for pain relief is the medication. I was taking a ton of it before I finally decided to have the surgery. It got to the point that the pain from the GN, and the side effects from the medication were both equally bad. I like not having the pain now. But I am also thrilled to not be taking a ton of medicine. I never had the taste problem that others seem to have. If the pain is that bad, I would strongly consider surgery.

I find it quite difficult to navigate this forum. Please **message me** and I will tell you of my happy news !!

Tess

I got my PCP to send me to a Neurosurgeon. Prolly cause I was writhing on his floor crying. Neurosurgeon is doing a full scar MVD this Monday. He thinks there may be trigeminal involvement as well. Wish me luck!

Tess

day 7 in my ramping up of triliptal and I am so drowsy!!! I am afraid to drive. only go to grocery and bank.. i feel like i am a hundred..

Sorry about your diagnosis. I have been living with GN for 3.5 years. Had a one year remission but when it came back in June, it came back in a big way. I am lucky enough to get surgery on Monday and hopefully, I will be a good statistic. As in cured. I can't live on the meds and they really don't work well anyway. Right now I am on tegretol 800mg and lyrica 300 mg. I haven't raised the dosage in 2 weeks so the effects are nearly gone and I am going on my 3rd really bad day in a row. I feel like I am at toxic levels already with double vision, balance problems, and difficulty finding words. It is difficult to drive and basically to live a normal life. I have been off work since the 16th of August. Surgery is my only choice.

Anyway, welcome and I hope for luck with the meds.

Tess

End of June, my boss pretty much told me that I could not work until I was off the meds. The Trileptal was really rocking my world - worse than it ever had. Fortunately I had already started planning for surgery. With me, it got to the point that the meds were almost as bad as the pain. What was weird was that they messed me up more physically than they ever had. I simply could not function in a normal manner with them anymore. But, they were much less effective in controlling the pain. I always said that I would fight it with the pills as long as I could so that I could avoid surgery. But now that I have had the surgery, I look forward to not having to take the medicine almost as much as I look forward to being pain free. That's saying a lot because the pain that I had was unlike anything that I have ever experienced. How much meds are you taking? I was 2400mg Trileptal / 4800mg Neurontin per day. Hopefully you don't have to approach those levels. Good luck.