A condition creating pain in the nerve is called neuralgia, and postherpetic and trigeminal neuralgia are the two types of it. First, we will focus on the postherpetic neuralgia in which a very strong and constant pain coming from the nerve can be a product of shingles. Varicella zoster is a virus which produces these shingles, and when this happens, pain is felt on one side of the body. We have to mention that this virus is also responsible for the creation of chickenpox. This pain, usually created on the abdomen and chest nerves, goes away after 2 to 4 weeks. The rash is also common, along with the pain, but sometimes the rash goes away while the pain remains. If this occurs postherpetic neuralgia is the probable cause. The postherpetic neuralgia is a very common consequence coming from the shingles and almost every fourth patient with shingles develops it. The condition can remain even for months and the pain can be reduced but it can never eliminated by the use of medications. Children are very easily affected by thiscondition.
Causes
Trigeminal neuralgia is the other type of nerve pain. This pain, felt usually on the face, comes very suddenly, and is usually experienced as stabbing which can linger for several minutes. Older people and women are more frequently affected by this condition. The problem with pain is very rarely felt on both sides of the face and usually only one side is affected. Sometimes surgery will have to be performed for this condition which becomes worse by time, while medicines can help in the treatment of the symptoms.
Treatment
We have mentioned that the most common problem produced by this condition is the pain, and the exact location or duration of the pain depends on the location and type of the neuralgia. If we talk about the trigeminal neuralgia, problems like pain can be experienced in the form of spasm for days and even moths. Sometimes pain can be felt one day and the other will be gone. There are cases in which this happens, but the pain usually returns. Some cases state a number of few hundreds of pain fits by a day. Just a delicate touch can produce pain, as well as actions such as eating, washing the face, speaking or brushing your teeth, which can be particularly difficult, since a person has to perform these activities daily. Some patients avoid eating because of this problem, which can lead to serious emotional state and even depression. The common symptoms of trigeminal neuralgia include pain felt in the inside of the mouth or outside of the face piercing or stabbing pain on the face, jaw, forehead, eye or cheek pain, burning or aching felt after the fit, face numbness felt prior to the pain, which lasts mostly two minutes. If the time between the fits is considerate, this usually means you are suffering from an atypical trigeminal neuralgia. For the end symptoms of postherpetic neuralgia include shooting pain, aching, throbbing orburning pain and very extreme itchiness and activities such as dressing, for example can be made very difficult by this condition. Remember that this pain is worsening when cold is touched.
Your thoughts on this
Loading...