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Naltrexone for nerve pain?

M

MountainMama

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 1, 2018
Messages
2,593
My new facial pain specialist thinks that my facial pain is caused by hypermobility. My previous specialist had mentioned hypermobility as a contributing factor to the jaw pain, but not the nerve pain.
I have always had hypermobility of my joints and never thought anything of it.
This specialist wants to treat the pain with naltrexone. She said we could also try gabapentin or lyrica. She isn’t being pushy and told me to do my research and think about it. She is not crazy about my current medication although she said as little as I take it, it is not hurting me.

Everything I am finding is fairly new research so wondering if anyone else has heard of this and if it is successful. She said a lot of people don’t even realize how much pain they had until they go on it and it goes away.
 
Hi @MountainMama! For my own nerve pain which started after dental issues, I’ve tried amitriptyline, gabapentin, pregablin and lamotrigine. Unfortunately none worked spectacularly well for me and I eventually just got off all meds, but that’s the usual host of meds they’ll initially try for atypical facial pain. Have you tried those ones thus far?

I’ve read promising research about naltrexone but haven’t tried it myself. I think it’s worth a shot and would be interested to hear about your experience if you do try it.
 
Hi @MountainMama! For my own nerve pain which started after dental issues, I’ve tried amitriptyline, gabapentin, pregablin and lamotrigine. Unfortunately none worked spectacularly well for me and I eventually just got off all meds, but that’s the usual host of meds they’ll initially try for atypical facial pain. Have you tried those ones thus far?

I’ve read promising research about naltrexone but haven’t tried it myself. I think it’s worth a shot and would be interested to hear about your experience if you do try it.
I have not tried any of them yet. The facial pain specialist said that we could try gabapentin or pregabalin but that she recommended naltrexone based on how well she has seen it work. She said it works as a preventative for issues related to hypermobility, which can cause the nerve pain.
I am still on the fence. She said naltrexone goes through your digestive system so it has virtually no side effects.
 
Hi @MountainMama, I was wondering if you decided to give this a go?

I was tentatively diagnosed with atypical odontologia two years ago, and the three medications I’ve tried since then (Amitriptyline, Cymbalta, and Lyrica) did not have an effect sadly.
 
@Andromeda I did not. My main concern is that I don’t want to take a daily medication for pain that comes and goes. I saw a neurologist that told me that I could take Gapapentin as needed, not daily, and I decided to go that route. So when I have a flare up, I take Gabapentin for a few days and it takes the edge off. I am much more comfortable with that route.
 
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