Nerve pain or commonly known as Neuralgia is a pain which tracks along a nerve path. Causes of Neuralgia or nerve pain may include the following – Trauma which includes surgery, inflammation and swelling, pressure put on the nerves by nearby structures like tumors, poryphyria; infections like Lyme diseases, syphilis and singles; diabetes, chronic renal insufficiency, chemical reactions and reaction from certain drugs. There are a lot that may cause nerve pain however inmost cases the cause of nerve pain is not known.
Nerve pain is most common to those people who are advance in age but then again it may strike any age. Since this kind of pain follows a nerve path it can affect any part of the body. Symptoms of nerve pain may include muscle weakness because of motor nerve damage or impaired function of the part of the body that is affected by pain; Numbness or increase sensitivity of the affected skin area; pain felt along the path of a certain nerve; and sharp pain that comes and goes or constant.
Physical examination will be done and your health care provider may try to find any sign of tenderness along a nerve often in the lower face and jaw but rarely on the temple and forehead, trigger points or any area where even a slight touch can trigger pain, lack of muscle mass, lack of sweating, abnormal sensation of the skin and loss of tendon reflexes.
It would be worth it too if you have a dental examination to rule out any dental problems that may cause facial pain. Other signs like swelling or redness may aid in ruling out conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, bone fractures or infections.
You cannot find any specific test for neuralgia but you can do the following test to find the cause of the pain, Test like Spinal tap, nerve conduction study with electromyography, MRI or Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Blood test to check blood sugar and kidney function.
Treatment for neuralgia or nerve pain depends on the cause. If the cause is identified the proper treatment will be initiated however in some cases, cause is never identified but the good thing is that condition may gradually improve and gone with time.
But if the cause is known like a tumor or any other structure pressing on the nerve, it should be treated with a surgery to eliminate the tumors or any other structure that press n it. This is often done in cases of trigeminal neuralgia and carpal tunnel syndrome.
For people who have diabetes and develops neuralgia, blood sugar may be have to be strictly controlled so as to recover fast from nerve pain.
Medications are also available manage pain like taking of pain relievers, antidepressant medications, anti seizure medications specifically for trigeminal neuralgia pain, narcotic analgesics and topical creams which contains capsaicin.
For severe cases, treatments may include injecting of pain relieving drugs, nerve blocks and surgical procedures to lessen the feeling in the nerve. This treatment does not guarantee long lasting improvement of condition, in fact it may cause abnormal sensations or loss of feeling.
The good news is most nerve pain or neuralgia are not life threatening nor a symptom of other life-threatening disease but then again pain can be too severe. In this case consult a pain specialist so that you will know all other treatment options.
Most of this nerve pain do responds to treatment and besides attacks of nerve pain may come and go but to others who are getting advance in age, attacks are getting frequent. The best way here is to learn how to manage the pain. This is very important so as not to affect your daily living. Pain can be such a nuisance and if we look or read in the news today you will realize how chronic pain has affected most of the American population today.
In fact a new survey from Stanford University Medical Center showed that 19% of American adults suffer from chronic pain and 44% have short tremor acute pain. Half of the respondents have said they suffer pain due to injury and conditions like cancer, heart disease and joint pain (USA TODAY/ABC News/Stanford University Medical Center).
With regards to worker productivity, it is calculated that it cost the USA $62 billion annually just from reduced performance alone excluding the cost of treatment and lost workdays which is estimated to sum up to $100 billion (The Journal of the American Medical Association, American Pain Foundation, November 2003).
With this updates it is quite alarming how this conditions are affecting the population thus it is important that individuals should not ignore any signs of pain. Early treatment will benefit you.