Intro

Contact your doctor when you begin to have these pains.

• It is essential you see a doctor familiar with the care of patients with trigeminal neuralgia early on to help prevent the development of more severe complications.
• It is especially important to work with your doctor because with appropriate drug therapy trigeminal neuralgia can almost always be controlled.

Seek immediate medical attention or go to a hospital's Emergency Department under the following circumstances:

• When your current medication does not control the pain and you need immediate relief
• When your pain prevents eating and drinking and places you at risk for malnutrition or dehydration  
• When you experience profound side effects of your medication such as severe drowsiness, sedation, nausea, or vomiting
• When a doctor advises you to seek evaluation and treatment for any of these problems

Self-Care at Home

Because the pain stems from nerves deep inside your skull, no home remedy is effective.

Outlook

Doctors do not know how to prevent trigeminal neuralgia, to predict who will get it, or determine who will respond to a particular treatment until it is tried.

Clearly, though, the overwhelming majority responds to at least one of the treatments and can obtain excellent benefit from it.

More and more people find substantial relief from invasive treatment, either anesthetic injections or decompressive therapy. It is very rare that someone with trigeminal neuralgia does not obtain long-standing relief.