Last night I had 4 teeth on the lower right side and an ear ache. Tegretol was handling the pain. THEN I had it on the lower left side, more Tegretol. THEN on the upper left side and the tears came. I just sat and cried from the pain. Never happened before and I hope never again. Is it possible this is something other than ATN??????

After 5 of the 200mg Tegretol it eased up. Anyone else have something like this?

I'm only a fellow sufferer, but I think you need to call your doctors office and speak with them about other possibilities. I hope they have screened you for other causes of TN and that they have done an MRI. On occasion I've experienced pain on the opposite side during an attack and I do experience deep ear pain all the time which is very disturbing. I regularly ask my doctor to check my ears and they are always fine and he attributes the pain to TN saying its the same nerve. It sounds like you've taken a hefty dose of tegretol and if you don't get relief again you should consider going to urgent care or the ER. I don't know if any of what I've written helps you any, but reach out to your doctor regarding all of this. He may have something more to offer you to help with these attacks. Take care

I did call my doctor, got the standby doctor (weekend) and he said I could take up to 1200mg if my body tolerated it well. Said the Tegretol was the best thing for it, just take more and wait for it to catch up. That is what I did.

I have never, ever heard of anyone having it like I did.

They have done two MRI's on my head, each about an hour long. Found nothing unusual. Very unremarkable I think he said.

Today I took Tegretol around 7AM and am starting to get a toothache on the upper right side.
If I touch my tongue to the teeth it hurts.

I will call my regular Neurologist first thing tomorrow morning.

I am lucky I have medical insurance and a good wife who tries to take care of me.

My CNS was damaged in a car wreck on June 3, 2001. Beyond surgery is the word I got in around 2006. As I write this I have a toothache (multiple teeth) in my upper and lower right jaw. Just took another Tegretol (Actually Carbamazepine, but I can't spell that without the prescription bottle in front of me.)

Thanks for the advice, I will follow it tomorrow.......

In my response I forget to relate some of my teeth experiences to you. I've had way too many teeth pulled from the condition. I had root canals on all of the teeth that were pulled and I still experienced pain. I frequently get pain in my teeth on the top, just to have the bottom flare up on the same side. The last tooth that I had a root canal on, I still have and I still have pain in that tooth. I have bilateral TN, a mix of classic and atypical and the pain pattern your describing to me doesn't sound odd to me. It seems that all the posts I read, I see similaries between them and yet some of the pain patterns are unique to each of us. Its a strange condition isn't it. I'm glad you reached out to your doctor as I tried carbemazepine once and it didn't last long with me so I don't have any idea what a normal dose is. Hang in there and painfree wishes to you.

Bi Lateral TN??? Never heard of it, but will read up on it. I am new to this world and frankly wish I had never visited. Visited may not be the right word, I guess I may "live" here now.

I have ATN again tonight. Seems to hit harder in the evenings.

If you are not using tegretol, may I ask what you do use? My Neurologist implied Tegretol was about all they could do for me. Opiates don't work here........

I am sorry to hear of your problems, hopefully they will go away one of these days. Mine used to "go away" for weeks on end. I would have an attack, then get on Tegretol and after a few days, the pain was gone. Not sure what to think right now.

Thanks again....

Bilateral just means both sides although its not simultaneous. I'm using a mix of tramadol, baclofen, and clonazepam. The main med for TN is baclofen and I use the tramadol around the clock for the atypical pain. Clonazepam is a fill in med for me when the burning pain gets to be too much for me to handle. Its not the most optimal mix of meds but they are the ones I can tolerate. I still feel a good bit of pain with them though.

T.N. is a very confusing and difficult to deal with. I took 100mg of Dilantyn and 30mg. elavil after I was diagnosed and it held me for 10 years. now I have A.D. and I take 3600mg. of neurontin and several other meds. I am so allergic to Tegretol, I looked like I had the measles for about a week. I know that "The not knowing" can really take an emotional toll on us. If you feel like crying, Do It. There are a lot of us fighting to stay strong against something we really don't understand. Bless, Doodle bug7