Nerve pain — a particular type of pain and it feels different from other kinds of pain. Also called “neuralgia” or “neuropathic pain” which occurs when a certain health condition affects the nerves and carries sensation or signal to the brain.
People who experience this kind of neuropathic pain affects also their behavior, they become more sensitive than usual — to touch, to cold, and can experience pain as a result of their stimuli that would not normally be painful, brushing the skin is the best example to this.
It can worsen at night but also, it can be mild or might be severe than expected.
Countless nerves in the body convey sensations to the brain, including pain. Damaged to the nerves following a disease or injury can be a result of nerve pain. The damage may cause a misfire, mixed pain signals to a certain part of the brain. For people with nerve pain that the messaging system is not working correctly. Your brain receives a pain signal, you will feel the pain, however, there is no certain reason that causes the pain or obvious cause. Diseases such as diabetes or vitamin B12 deficiency are believed to be the diseases that nerve pain usually happens, more so an injury to the brain, spinal cord or a nerve.
People who have neuropathic pains are having a hard time dealing with some important parts of their lives — such as sleep, sex, work, exercise or other recreational activity they usually tend to do. They become angry, frustrated and oftentimes can lead them to anxiety or worse, depression.
There are four (4) types of nerve pain, such as:
- Post-herpetic – affecting the same as the rashes, it can happen after you’ve had herpes zoster (shingles rash – a viral infection that causes a painful rash)
- Trigeminal – jaw or cheek causing pain
- Occipital – pain that occurs at the base of your skull which can be spread to the back of your head
- Pudendal – pain that occurs at the saddle area (between the legs)
Often, the first goal to treat nerve pain is to address the underlying condition that causing your nerve pain or nerve damage which means:
- Blood sugar levels regulation for people who are dealing with diabetes
- Correction of nutritional deficiencies which often addressed and advised by specialists.
- Surgery to address nerve compression or nerve trauma
- Physical therapy
- Medications switch, as prescribed, especially if the drugs are causing nerve damages
Painkillers and a range of prescripted drugs may help whether for long term or short term.
It is also considered that nerve pain can also relieve through non-drug treatments which include physical exercise, acupuncture, relaxation techniques, and breathing exercises.
There are various ways and effective treatment for nerve pain but it depends on the specifics — such as patient’s health, underlying cause, potential side effects, cost, and other risks. However, physicians generally use the same set of medications and treatments for nerve pains whether caused by diabetes or vitamin B12 deficiency or another condition. Listed are the rundown of basic or general options.
1. Painkillers
There are three (3) main types of painkillers:
- Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)
- Paracetamol
- Opioids
Each painkiller works in different ways. Most people are advised to take a painkiller for a certain period of time — for a few days, weeks or months at most, however, some people need to take them for quite a very long time. Painkillers are readily available at the pharmacies; this includes the three (3) types of painkillers listed above. If you buy painkillers that contain weak opioids, this is usually upon the advice and further discussed with your doctors or pharmacist.
Painkillers, which everyone’s first choice for people with especially severe pain or nerve pain. However, for other kinds of nerve pain, doctors generally prescribed anti-inflammatories or pain relievers, or antidepressants and/or anticonvulsants first. Powerful opioid painkillers usually might be the choice for severe pains or nerve pains but it can have serious side effects. Over-the-counter painkillers may not work very well for everyone for moderate to severe nerve pain.
