Symptoms (1)
- Symptom Checker
Tests and diagnosis (1)
- Electromyography (EMG)
Treatments and drugs (1)
- Anti-seizure medications: Relief from nerve pain
Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
continued:
Anti-seizure medications: Relief from nerve pain
Side effects limit treatment
Anti-seizure drugs have been used to treat nerve pain for more than 50 years, but their use was limited by the severity of side effects they produce.
Older anti-seizure drugs include:
- Carbamazepine (Carbatrol, Tegretol)
- Phenytoin (Dilantin)
- Valproic acid (Depakene)
Side effects may include:
- Liver damage
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Double vision
- Loss of coordination
- Drowsiness
- Headache
Because these older drugs generally have more side effects than do the newer anticonvulsants, they often are used only when the newer medications prove ineffective.
Newer anti-seizure drugs
Many new anti-seizure drugs have been developed in the past 15 years. Some help relieve pain caused by damaged nerves.
- Gabapentin (Neurontin)
- Oxcarbazepine (Trileptal)
- Pregabalin (Lyrica)
- Tiagabine (Gabitril)
- Topiramate (Topamax)
Gabapentin has the fewest side effects, so it typically is the first anti-seizure drug tried in people experiencing nerve pain. Gabapentin and pregabalin, which is similar to gabapentin, are particularly effective in the treatment of postherpetic neuralgia, diabetic neuropathy and migraines.
Research is continuing
As scientists learn more about the way anti-seizure drugs work, this information will be useful in determining which drugs may work best for different types of nerve pain. Pain caused by nerve damage can be disabling, but anti-seizure drugs sometimes provide relief.
Previous page(2 of 2)
- Bajwa ZH, et al. Antiepileptic drugs in the treatment of neuropathic pain. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Sept. 16, 2008.
- Diabetic neuropathies: The nerve damage of diabetes. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/neuropathies/index.htm. Accessed Sept. 16, 2008.
- Shingles: Hope through research. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/shingles/detail_shingles.htm. Accessed Sept. 16, 2008.
- Side effects and ways to manage them. In: Chemotherapy and you: Support for people with cancer. National Cancer Institute. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/chemotherapy-and-you/page7#SE12. Accessed Sept. 23, 2008.
- Low back pain fact sheet. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/backpain/detail_backpain.htm. Accessed Sept. 23, 2008.
- Barkin RL, et al. Pharmacotherapeutic management of acute and chronic pain: Anticonvulsants. In: Rakel RE, et al. Textbook of Family Medicine. 7th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.:Saunders Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/104961741-4/0/1481/214.html?tocnode=53392677&fromURL=214.html#4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-2467-5..50023-3--cesec73_891. Accessed Sept. 16, 2008.
- Trigeminal neuralgia fact sheet. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/trigeminal_neuralgia/detail_trigeminal_neuralgia.htm. Accessed Sept. 16, 2008.
