Treatment resistant trigeminal neuralgia relieved with oral sumatriptan: a case report

INTRODUCTION: Treatment-resistant trigeminal neuralgia is a distressing condition, for both the patient and the treating doctor. To our knowledge, there are no reported cases of trigeminal neuralgia successfully treated with oral sumatriptan in the literature. CASE PRESENTATION: A 51-year-old Caucasian woman was prescribed opiate analgesia for management of her treatment-resistant trigeminal neuralgia. Given the possible harmful effects of initiating such a course of treatment, a speculative therapeutic trial with oral sumatriptan was initiated with a successful outcome. CONCLUSION: This case raises the hypothesis that oral sumatriptan may be an effective drug in the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia. Further research is required to test this theory.