I was diagnosed with trigeminal neuralgia at the age of 49 and suffered from it off and on for 6 years. Usually kicking up in the winter and going away when it warmed up. The last year was the worst. It wouldn’t go away no matter what I tried…and I tried every nerve pain med available. They just dulled the pain…a little. I couldn’t eat or talk without stabbing burning pain. My blood pressure was high as a result and I was miserable. I went to the dentist for a routine check during this time and was afraid to have any dental work done on my right side for fear it would make it even worse. My dentist suggested that I try an anti-viral. He thought it was the chicken-pox virus. I called my neurologist and asked about taking an anti-viral as treatment and she didn’t think it would be effective in my case. I had recently had an MRI that showed the trigeminal nerve resting on the blood vessel in 2 places. I did some reading about a lady in a study who took an anti-viral and the shingles vaccine and her TN went away. I was already 55, had chickenpox as teenager, and figured I didn’t have anything to lose. I took the shingles vaccine and it made me sick as dog, but within 2 and a half weeks of the first dose the TN went completely away and I have not had an episode in 5 years (I’m 60 this year). TN can be caused by other things besides the chicken pox virus, but for me this seems to have been the issue. I hope this helps someone. If you’re suffering from TN, there are a lot of new treatments out there. See your neurologist and keep digging for answers.