Medication Treatment of people believed to have ATN or TN is usually begun with medication. The long-time first drug of choice for facial<unk>  has been carbamazepine, an anti-seizure agent. Due to the significant side-effects and hazards of this drug, others have recently come into common use as alternatives. These include oxcarbazepine, lamotrigine, and gabapentin. A positive patient response to one of these medications might be considered as supporting evidence for the diagnosis, which is otherwise made from medical history and pain presentation. There are no present medical tests to conclusively confirm TN or ATN. If the anti-seizure drugs are found ineffective, one of the tricyclic antidepressant medications such as amitriptyline or nortriptyline, may be used. The tricyclic antidepressants are known to have dual action against both depression and neuropathic pain. Other drugs which may also be tried, either individually or in combination with an anti-seizure agent, include baclofen, pregabalin, anti-seizure drugs (to calm nerve endings), muscle relaxants, and opioid drugs such as oxycodone or an oxycodone/paracetamol combination. For some people with ATN opioids may represent the only viable medical option which preserves quality of life and personal functioning. Although there is considerable controversy in public policy and practice in this branch of medicine, practice guidelines have long been available and published. Surgery If drug treatment is found to be ineffective or causes disabling side effects, one of several neurosurgical procedures may be considered. The available procedures are believed to be less effective with type II <unk>  than with type I<unk>  or "classic") TN. Among present procedures, the most effective and long lasting has been found to be microvascular decompression (MVD), which seeks to relieve direct compression of the trigeminal nerve by separating and padding blood vessels in the vicinity of the emergence of this nerve from the brain stem, below the cranium. Choice of a surgical procedure is made by the doctor and patient in consultation, based on the patient's pain presentation and health and the doctor's medical experience. Some neurosurgeons resist the application of MVD or other surgeries to<unk> , in light of a widespread perception that ATN pain is less responsive to these procedures. However, recent papers suggest that in cases where pain initially presents as type I TN, surgery may be effective even after the pain has evolved into type II.
Atypical trigeminal neuralgia
Trigeminal autonomic cephalgia
Occipital neuralgia
Trigeminal neuralgia
Trigeminal trophic syndrome
Thunderclap headache
Cold-stimulus headache
Notalgia paresthetica