I have suffered from Facial Neuralgia on and off since I was in my early 20's.. the pain can be excruciating when it's at it's worst which it was for me for 3 solid years ..when I first got it. I call it my missing years because I was given Opiates to treat the pain.. because they didn't know what was causing it, and they had no name for it.. ..to deal with it.. so I was only half in this world for most of my early 20's..
In the last 5 or 6 years the Neuralgia has returned.. not ( thank God) as bad as it was .. but it's constant .. and painful in the one side of my jaw and behind my ear. I have like you.. to take Tegretol 200mg..... and I see a consultant twice a year.( just seen him 3 weeks ago) and they check nothing sisnister is going on, and that the Tegretol is doing its job (I'm not prescribed anything else) .. It's been over 18 months since I had an MRI so the consultant has called for me to have another one.. Goodness knows how long that will be with all the long waiting lists, but we'll see.
I'm sorry you suffer with this too.. the Pain of Trigeminal Neuralgia is excruciating, but not something that non medical people take seriously.. because they can;t see where your pain is