Dear Iris, Thank you for asking on Healthcaremagic! I understand your concern and would explain that all these treatments are symptomatic. Besides acyclovir, which is an antiviral agent, used against herpes infection, all the other drugs are symptomatic treatment for the pain control. Antiepilepsy agents can be used for years, to reduce the severity and frequency of pain attacks. I would not recommend taking ativan and hydrocodone for a long time. Hydrocodone can cause addiction and tolerance. A brain MRI is necessary too. Other treatment options would be local infiltrations of the trigeminal nerve or other antiepilepsy agents. You should know that during antiepilpsy treatment, it is necessary to periodically check up their plasma levels and also complete blood count and liver and renal function tests. Hope you will find this answer helpful! Kind regards, Dr. Aida