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Hi, I Am A 71 Healthy Female, Except Fibromyalgia Which
Question: Hi, I am a 71 healthy female, except fibromyalgia which yes, has limited me a bit since I had a slight vertabrae injury when I was 50 years old, but have remained quite active socially up until Oct 2017 after extensive oral surgery and now am diagnosed with trigeminul neuralgia as of Nov 12, 2018, yesterday and I am homebound. The Dr prescribed Depakote and Valtrex since I did have one case of mouth shingles. Now I am so DISTRAUGHT, what can I do?
Brief Answer:
depakote is not usually first line for neuralgia
Detailed Answer:
HI, thanks for using healthcare magic
Though the depakote may work for you, tegretol/carbamazepine is more commonly prescribed compared to depakote and there is more info regarding its use for neuralgia. Tegretol/carbamazepine is more commonly used for trigeminal neuralagia, it is first line medication
Other anti epileptics are also commonly used such as gabapentin, oxacarbezepine, lyrica.
Since depakote is not one of the meds that is commonly used to treat neuralgia, you may be want to consider asking your doctors if there is a specific reason that it was chosen. As mentioned, persons react differently to medication, so it is possible that it may work well for you.
It does not interact with either the muscle relaxant (skelaxin) or the valtrex.
The muscle relaxant , skelaxin, is a good muscle relaxant. If it does not work , there are other options (flexeril, robaxin, baclofen). It also does not interact with tegretol if the depakote is switched.
Other aspects of treatment of trigeminial neuralgia include surgical treatment of the nerves involved but this is only considered after a course of appropriate medication eg gamma knife radio surgery or microvascular decompression
It would be best to speak to your doctor's about their choice.
I hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions
depakote is not usually first line for neuralgia
Detailed Answer:
HI, thanks for using healthcare magic
Though the depakote may work for you, tegretol/carbamazepine is more commonly prescribed compared to depakote and there is more info regarding its use for neuralgia. Tegretol/carbamazepine is more commonly used for trigeminal neuralagia, it is first line medication
Other anti epileptics are also commonly used such as gabapentin, oxacarbezepine, lyrica.
Since depakote is not one of the meds that is commonly used to treat neuralgia, you may be want to consider asking your doctors if there is a specific reason that it was chosen. As mentioned, persons react differently to medication, so it is possible that it may work well for you.
It does not interact with either the muscle relaxant (skelaxin) or the valtrex.
The muscle relaxant , skelaxin, is a good muscle relaxant. If it does not work , there are other options (flexeril, robaxin, baclofen). It also does not interact with tegretol if the depakote is switched.
Other aspects of treatment of trigeminial neuralgia include surgical treatment of the nerves involved but this is only considered after a course of appropriate medication eg gamma knife radio surgery or microvascular decompression
It would be best to speak to your doctor's about their choice.
I hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions
Note: For further queries, consult a joint and bone specialist, an Orthopaedic surgeon. Book a Call now.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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