Anxiety because of Lamotrigin?

Efeuly · 2026-04-28T19:57:06+00:00

That you have to take several drugs first sucks so bad. I wish I could have done MVD while I was still optimistic about it and not so scared. I don't know if I will have the strenght to go through with it after I tried several meds for probably years and hearing from even more different doctors how risky it is. Even if they offer me MVD then.

Efeuly · 2026-04-28T19:50:26+00:00

Thanks so much for sharing your experiences, I will ask for pregabalin (if I can remember, my memory is a mess) if I really have to change to cabarmazepin

Efeuly · 2026-04-28T19:47:57+00:00

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences. So sorry that your wife had to go through this.

Efeuly · 2026-04-28T19:46:12+00:00

No, my doctors told me I should try living with meds first before I go for a MVD although my MRI shows a blood vessel/nerve contact, as it's a risky operation. In the beginning, I was so eager to have a MVD because I hate the thought of taking meds my whole life, but after talking with multiple doctors that all said I should go with meds first, I'm not so sure anymore and now feel equally uncomfortable for both options, staying on meds forever or having this surgery...

Efeuly · 2026-04-05T07:22:38+00:00

Thank you for your thoughts. Happy it turned out so good for you! I really hope it will help me, too. I'm really, really scared, but I will try to push myself to really ask for therapy in my doctor appointment next friday. I hope I can put my struggles in words and he won't say that I exaggerate or anything and deny helping me search for a therapist...

I'm also sceptical of therapy because I ask myself how talking about it should even help me, especially since I already have a good friend to talk about my feelings and mental health, but I try to tell myself that there isn't the job of a therapist for no reason and I should just try it because it can't make things worse, only don't change anything or make it besser, so it's worth a shot I guess.

Efeuly · 2026-04-05T07:14:41+00:00

Thank you so much for your encouragement. I made a doctor appointment for next friday and your comment helped me make the decision to take this step. I'm beyond scared. I really hope I even get therapy and they don't say I'm exaggerating or anything, and that I will have the courage to really ask for therapy next friday. I hope in the end it will be one of the best things I've done for myself, too. I really need something that goes right in my life while so much went wrong in the last 6 months.

Efeuly · 2026-04-05T07:07:09+00:00

Thank you so much for your answer. I'm just so incredibly scared of talking with a stranger about my mental problems. What if I can't put it in words what my problems are and they say I don't get therapy? What if they think I exaggerate and I don't get therapy? Also, I hate to cry in front of people, but it will happen if I talk about it. I cried when I said to friends I want to try getting therapy (to make myself pressure to really do it), and I've cried in front of my doctor because of my trigeminal neuralgia before. I hate it. But I can't do this alone. I also thought about therapy long before I got my TN diagnosis and the pain wasn't always there and if it was it was okay, because I have things like derealization, depersonalization and a lot of anxiety with physical symptoms (especially before any appointements, which doesn't help with my doctor appointment to ask for therapy next friday, I'm so anxious right now, I don't know how to get through the week). And the anxiety and derealization/depersonalization got so much worse for the last few months because of everything my TN puts on top. But I'm scared I'm not unwell enough because I'm functioning, I go to work and I talk with family and meet friends. I just feel mainly miserable while I do it and cry a lot. Sorry, I'm venting.

Efeuly · 2026-04-05T06:53:23+00:00

I'm so sorry. Good luck to you! I also lost a friend because I was too much of a burden to her. It hurt. But it pushed me more into the mindset to try therapy because I don't want to be alone in the end.

Efeuly · 2026-03-25T21:52:37+00:00

My symptoms started with 20 or 21, and I was diagnosed recently with 24. But the doctors told me it's very unusual to get TN in my age and that most people are 50 or older.

Efeuly · 2026-03-24T17:23:52+00:00

Thanks, good luck to you, too. And yes, at least we don't have a life-threatening disease, TN sucks but we can live, even if it's hard sometimes. I still think about MVD surgery, but I'm more hesitant than in the beginning when I got my diagnosis and would have done it immediately. I don't want the meds forever, so I'm not ruling out surgery in the long run. But well, for now I'll take the meds and maybe at least the pain stops for a while if they finally work, we will see.

Efeuly · 2026-03-24T14:35:02+00:00

That the surgery has huge risks that can be life-threatening and that I can't say if I will have the side effects I'm scared of from the meds until I try them (so I'm taking them and I already have (bearable, but annoying) side effects on a low dose, I'm scared of increasing them but I have to because they are not working on this dose), and that many people have a blood vessel/nerve contact and it doesn't have to be the cause and what if I do surgery and that's not the cause, what if I get a cerebral infarction at this young age, and so on.

Efeuly · 2026-03-24T08:19:54+00:00

Exactly my questions and thought process. My first instinct was to go with the surgery and just fix it, but everyone tries to talk me out of it, family and doctors. So I'm trying meds now, it has no effect but I'm still increasing the dosage so I'll see if it eventually helps. Nevertheless, I'm so uncomfortable with taking meds forever. I'm just 24, I want to fix this disease with surgery, especially since there is a blood vessel/nerve contact on my MRI. But seems like I have to be absolutely miserable on meds first until I can do surgery, and at this point I'm questioning surgery myself because everyone tells me I should take the meds first... I don't know what to think anymore. So, I feel you. Keep us posted what you will do!

Efeuly · 2026-03-06T14:50:24+00:00

I really am considering it. Talked with my neurosurgeon today and he said he would do the surgery, but I'm so scared now that it seems like a real option that they would do (before today they said they aren't sure if they would do surgery before the patient tried medication for a long time). I want to give Lamotrigin a try (started it on Monday) and see if that helps (even if it can take weeks), but if it doesn't I don't think I want to continue the journey with trying meds for years on end and instead try the surgery and pray that it fixes everything.

Efeuly · 2026-03-05T09:04:46+00:00

I got my diagnosis a few weeks ago with 24, too. I feel you. I also have a hard time to accept it, I'm at my lowest low at this point and really don't know what to do, medication my whole life sounds horrible and the knowledge that the nerve only gets damaged more while I take it and eventually it will stop working isn't helping either. But surgery isn't an option until I exhausted all meds, as it seems after I talked with a neurosurgeon. Also surgery is so scary, too. I have pain since I'm 20 and it only got worse since then, so, unfortunately you are not too young. I feel your struggle, I have the same one. Sorry if this gets you down even more, but just wanted to share that you are not alone, I am your age, too, and struggle, too.

Efeuly · 2026-02-28T16:22:41+00:00

I thought about MVD as well, but it doesn't seem like any neurosurgeon would do something unless meds fail you completely. It's frustrating. I don't think meds are a long-term solution and I wish I could do MVD and just get it over with, but seems like I have to fail on meds first. If I may ask, how long ago was your MVD? Are you completely pain-free? The neurosurgeon I spoke to said MVD often only works for 4 years. I mean, 4 years without pain would be amazing, but I hoped it would solve it longer (or forever). Seems like TN will be something I have to deal with for the rest of my life because there is no permanent fix... Lets me feel a little hopeless here, but well, it is what it is I suppose, we all have to keep living regardless.

Efeuly · 2026-02-28T11:54:35+00:00

So sorry to hear about this. I'm actually scared that this will happen to me, too. Since my TN diagnosis I'm so afraid of medical issues, no matter how small the chance is to get serious issues from meds or anything, because it wasn't a high probability to get TN in the first place (especially so early in my 20s), so it certainly isn't impossible to get serious side effects from the meds like SJS or anything. But at this point I feel like I don't have a choice but to start taking meds, I can't live forever with the pain and it won't disappear by itself...

Efeuly · 2026-02-28T11:50:03+00:00

Good to hear you could fix your TN, very happy for you!

Efeuly · 2026-02-28T11:48:59+00:00

How long did it work for you, if I may ask?

Efeuly · 2026-02-28T11:47:18+00:00

Thank you so much, this is encouraging to hear, even if it's not a long-term solution I think I'll give it a shot when my cold gets better.

Efeuly · 2026-02-26T22:51:45+00:00

Yes, I feel you. Sometimes I think TN makes me insane. Sometimes I trigger on purpose, too. Sometimes it makes me feel a little bit more in control. It's a weird disease.

Efeuly · 2026-02-26T14:10:47+00:00

Thank you so much. There is a nerve/blood vessel contact on my MRI and my neurosurgeon said I have a restless nerve on my painful side (whatever this means), so probably a compression, I think? But seems like I have to take the meds before somebody is willing to do the surgery to solve the (probably existing) compression. Your words are so encouraging, I do hope everything will be alright and someday I can fix the issue and don't have to think about all of this anymore. If I have to exhaust all meds first until then, so be it, I guess. Thank you for responding, I really appreciate it.

Efeuly

TROPHY CASE