Dave, what you are going through is immense. Even more reason to thank you for your response. You must be in so much pain all the time, or if not in pain then at the mercy of the side effects of the drugs. I too get the cluster headaches with my neuralgia but only at certain times of the year - the changing of the seasons. Thanks for sharing your experience, and for your advice. I shall update with my decision once I have met with the surgeon next week.

Hello Sarah,

That's a very hard question to answer as TN effects everyone in a different way. I am in the US and I know over here they will not do an MVD if there is some relief thru medications. I also had TN and I did not respond to any of the 3 medications prescribed. Gabapentin I could not tolerate. Both Trileptal and Carbamazepine did not work. I went thru 12 months of switching meds, ramping up doses and then ramping down etc to start another one. It was pure hell. Finally my Neurologist referred me to a Neurosurgeon and they scheduled an MVD. By that time I was not able to eat solid food without having a severe "episode". In my case, the MVD surgery literally gave me my life back. That was 5 years ago and so far so good. The recovery from the MVD was trying for a couple of weeks but well worth it in my case. I too had multiple blood vessels "tangled" with the nerve.

I think if I could have controlled my TN with low doses of a medication, then I probably would have waited to have surgery but I would not have lived the rest of my life as a zombie which I was at maximum dosages of the medications.

Ken