Neuralgia, Types, Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment

 What is Neuralgia?

 What are the causes of Neuralgia?

 What are the symptoms of Neuralgia?

 What is the Treatment?

Add caption

What is Neuralgia:-

Severe or mild pain in any part of the body caused by the damaged or irritated nerve is known as Neuralgia. In mild Neuralgia cases affected body parts function normally but in case of severe neuralgia, a patient may not be able to perform his or her routine everyday task.

Causes of Neuralgia:-

Main causes of Neuralgia include the following -

1.  Pressure on nerves from bones, vessels, or tumours.

2.  Infections like shingles, HIV, Lyme disease.

3.  A kidney or diabetes patient may develop symptoms of  Neuralgia.

4.  Old age

Types of Neuralgia:-

Neuralgia can affect any part of the body therefore doctors categorise the Neuralgia according to the parts of the body it affects. Some of them are as follows-

Trigeminal Neuralgia:-

Trigeminal nerves in the brain send signals to the face, mouth, teeth, and nose. Trigeminal nerves have three branches. Trigeminal Neuralgia is further divided into two types. 

Type-1

In type -1, Trigeminal Neuralgia the patient experiences irregular episodes of a painful burning or electric shock-like sensation in the parts of the face.  the pain can travel from the brain and branches to different parts of the face. Sometimes the pain could be only on one side of the face. The duration may last up to two minutes but varies patient to patient.

Type-2,

In type -2, Trigeminal Neuralgia a patient experiences a constant dull painful sensation in the face. 

The medical specialists have yet to discover the real cause of Trigeminal Neuralgia but it is largely believed that an enlarged blood vessel in the brain can bring pressure on Trigeminal nerve causing damage or irritation to it. 

Multiple Sclerosis:-

 The central nervous system of the patient is affected. Multiple Sclerosis is a neurological disorder that causes inflammation which damages the myelin sheath surrounding nerve fibres. 

Postherpetic Neuralgia:-

A medical condition of acute pain that affects nerves in the skin. It is caused by shingles. Shingle is a viral infection that causes blisters and painful skin rash. The chickenpox virus varicella-zoster remains in the dormant state in the nervous system and reactivates later in life leading to shingles. This causes inflammation in the nerve fibres leading to permanent nerve damage. The patients experience acute pain.

Occipital Neuralgia:-

It affects the occipital nerves that originate in the neck and sends signals to the back of the head. It causes a throbbing or shooting pain that starts near the base of the skull then radiates along the scalp. The pain can move to the back of the eyes. The occipital neuralgia can also cause the following-

1.  gout.

2.  tense neck muscles.

3.  lesions or tumours in the neck.

4.  sudden head movements.

5.  inflamed blood vessels.

6.  diabetes.

7.  neck injuries.  

Peripheral Neuralgia:-

This medical condition appears when there is damage in the peripheral nervous system resulting in acute pain. The peripheral nervous system includes all nerve fibres outside of the brain and spinal cord.

It may cause damage to a single nerve or a group of nerves. Prolonged damage to the peripheral nervous system will impact the muscle movement, transmission of sensory information, regulation of internal organs.

Peripheral neuralgia in extreme condition can also cause pain or numbness in the hands, feet arms and legs. The patient may also have the following symptoms-

1.  Loss of coordination.

2.  Difficulty in tasks like buttoning a shirt or tying shoelaces.

3.  Hypersensitivity to touch or temperature.

4.  Muscle twitching or cramping.

5.  Sometimes excess sweating.

6.  swallowing, eating and speaking.

Intercostal Neuralgia:-

It is a neuropathic pain that involves inflammation, damage or compression to intercoastal nerves. These nerves have their origin in the spinal cord below the ribs. It causes sharp, shooting pain in the chest wall, upper back, and upper abdomen. Any movement in the body of the patient like breathing, coughing and laughing can increase the pain. It can have the following other symptoms-

1.  Tingling or numbness in the upper chest or upper back.

2.  Muscle twitching.

3.  Tightness or pressure around the chest.

4.  Loss of appetite.

Diabetic Neuropathy:-

Diabetes patients are at high risk of diabetic neuropathy. High blood sugar can cause damages to nerves throughout the body including the nerves in the legs and feet of the patients. It might have the following symptoms-

1.  Numbness in legs and feet.

2.  Problem in the digestive system, urinary tract and blood vessels.

3.  Issues in the heart.

4.  Episodes of shooting pain.

5.  Muscle twitching or cramping.

Treatment:-

Treatment of the neuralgia depends on the type and severity of the disease. First, the doctor tries to pinpoint the cause of the neuroglia then he will focus on treating the cause but if the cause is not found he will try to reduce the pain. Apart from the local nerve block, topical ointments, steroid injections a doctor may go for prescription or surgery or both. The neuralgia treatment includes the following-

1.  Surgery to remove the pressure on the affected nerves.

2.  Physical therapy.

3. Medication to reduce the pain.

4. Better management of blood sugar.

5.  Nerve block through an injection in the affected nerve to stop the pain signals from going to the brain.

Doctors may prescribe medications such as-

1. Antidepressants to treat nerve pain.

2.  Antiseizure medications effective in trigeminal neuralgia.

3.  Sometimes narcotics pain medications.

4.  Topical cream.

So for there is no cure for neuralgia. The treatment can only reduce pain. The research is still going on.