Well, in theory, if they do your surgery right you shouldn't have a recurrence of nerve pain. That's not always the case though, and most people get flare-ups now and then. Sometimes that's just the nerve getting used to not being compressed.
I was given a low-dose, general pain reliever (morphine sulfate XR) and an acute pain reliever (vicodin). After 4 months I'm off of the morphine and taking 1-3 doses of vicodin depending on the pain - which is mostly from soreness, as I have started physical therapy and am working out long atrophied muscles. I've never taken anything specifically for nerve pain, though I tried Neuronitin and it did nothing.
I was on various things in the painful months leading up to the surgery, and some things worked and some didn't; I had a terrible time on Percocet, lots of horrible side effects.
Good Luck,
David