Diagnosed with neuralgia from cat scan in 88 from neurologist.  Family dr. and new neurolgist say cluster headaches. So what is it and is there even a difference in treatment?  As I try everything, they still go away in time, so how can you tell if neurontin, water, coffee, coffee paste in the gum area, aspirin in the gum area, cholaseptic in the gum area, dialantin, ergostat, axert, relpax, tegretol, ice on the eye, heat on the eye, avoiding any activity your mind thinks brought it on, avoiding family members that are able to stress me, HOW CAN YOU TELL???? It lasts so long, then it's gone over a few months then comes back in a year or so. My best achievement is getting it down to 30 min.= by chance or all the crazy remedies I've tried??? IN the last 6 months I had to have lumbar surgery on L4-5 and cervical disc fusion on C5-6. Did all that pain rewake the brain to start the neuralgia of face back in???? I thought the pain pills for surgery started it and limited them to so less that the surgery pain is unbearable with it combined. Now they want me to start verapamil- which lowers blood pressure and my blood pressure is normal-I'm afraid to start it-can it kill me??

Also, I have learned through the years that I absolutely cannot use an electric toothbrush or liquid mouthwash. In anytime of remission-those would start it in undoubtedly.

Get the O2 and give the verapamil a try if your doc recommends it.

There is no absolute way of knowing what med will/how affect you--BUT--we can tune into medical studies which give us some data on effectiveness, etc.

What is not helpful is to play around--adding & dropping--meds, behaviors, etc. in a self-directed experiment to determine what is helpful (or not). Without some degree over control over what you are using/doing, dose, duration, etc. there is simply no way of concluding what is working for you. It's really important to work with your doc in making changes so that his medical guidance/experience/knowledge can be used to your benefit.

Re. Verapamil: it's about our oldest preventive (not abortive) med, has a excellent track record for effectiveness and safety. For most people, it's not an especially potent med. re. blood pressure and it's uncommon for people, even on high doses for CH, to have to stop using it because of too low BP. 

See PDF file, below.

Thanks so much, everyone for the advice.

Bob P wrote on May 25^th, 2010 at 8:17am:


now whats the difference between that and what we have?

Diagnosing either condition can be tricky business.

from what i read here
neurosurgical university of patras

Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or

it says Trigeminal neuralgia is caused due to demyelination,the small nerves losing their myelin like the electrical wires losing their insulation and as a result a signal gets spreaded through more nerves
and the brain gets multiple signals which are being percepted as the pain of the trigeminal nerve.
those multiple signals can be reduced with the use of tegretol or neurontin.it also says that Trigeminal neuralgia might leave a permanent burning sensation in the side of the face.(it hasn't been updated since 2008 and not to be taken for granted anyway as any reading must be double checked with more sources)

i also remember from somewhere else i was probably reading about, it is extreme pain and it lasts less than two minutes?
does this mean it has no shadows?no time to abort as in two or even few more min its too short time anyway?
a complete different situation from ch as time here is the key and the parasympathetic system doesn't get affected?(droopy eye,tears,stuffy nose?)
I am with your Family dr. and that new neurologist.
i mean ok i am not a doctor but  indomethacin is supposed to help with paroxysmal imigrania and helps with the differencial diagnosis from ch as there are many similarities.
whats the similar for ch and trigeminal neuralgia that bothers them to diagnose properly and leave it up to you?shadows for ch and trigeminal neuralgia is the same?i think is a completely different nature of what we call shadows

does ch include this demyelination in any level?Now that is a question i would like to know

some random thoughts probably wrong but what a mess!
welcome and stay strong (and read,read and read)
pf wishes

Diamond Lucidity wrote on May 25^th, 2010 at 1:16am:


First real bad attack I had they put me on Vicadin.  It didn't work, and I was in a lot of pain, but I was happy at least.  As far as it being a killer, no, not really, but, in many cases, you'd wish you were dead.

2nd day of Neurontin I had the worst attack ever and lasting longer than usual. I knew it hadn't worked in the past for me. So I braved up and started verapamil next day. Going to try to stick with it and give it a good try. I feel very slowed down and tired after 2 days, but haven't had an attack. Felt like I started to in middle of the night, woke up from a bad dream and felt like the beginning, but I tried to sleep sitting up the rest of the night and it did'nt develop. I was so afraid to start the new med and glad I found this site. Thanks again.

Verapamil has been very sucesful for many on the board, hope it works as well for you. Add a lot of fruit and fiber to your diet as one of its side effects is it'll plug you up a bit.

Joe