let’s face it nerve pain can get on your nerves. Sometimes it happens when nerves get compressed and irritated causing sharp shooting pain, or it could be from nerve damage which can start as numbness or tingling and progress to an intense feeling of earning or stabbing. Nerve pain can be a long-term problem marked by flare-ups that come and go that’s why managing your nerve pain is so important.
Your doctor may prescribe medications like pain relievers anticonvulsants antidepressants painkilling gels Painkilling gels and lidocaine patches also work well to target specific areas. If the pain is intense electrical stimulation can be used to block the signal coming from the nerve. In some cases, surgery may be needed to fix whatever’s putting pressure on the nerve.
Home treatments can also help reduce your nerve pain and keep it from getting worse.
Try exercising to release natural painkillers called endorphins or a warm bath that will relax your muscles. Nerve pain may be hard to control but with the right treatment, it doesn’t have to control you.
What is nerve pain (neuralgia)?
How do you cope with nerve pain?
pain is something very familiar. Everyone has had to deal with pain once in their life. Nowadays we know that the brain plays an important role in sensing pain and that there are different types of pain.
Tissue pain for example is caused by an injury anywhere in the body think of a cut or a sprained ankle.
Tissue pain is usually temporary and disappears as soon as the injury recovers. This is why people call it acute pain. But there is also a long-lasting type of pain. Sometimes even lasting for more than three months with this type of pain there is no longer an injury in the body. This type of pain is called nerve pain or chronic pain. It can appear anywhere in the body.
Nerve pain is pain which is caused by an injury or a disorder of the nervous system. It can make the most simple things not so simple anymore. Think of for example bicycling working or just being able to sleep well. In this case, nerve pain can start dominating your whole life. It is important to take steps on time to reduce the pain as much as possible to learn how to handle it. An important first step is to talk about it with your family doctor. When you talk to your doctor be as clear and detailed as possible about everything you are feeling tingling.
‘he’s a burning pain or electric shocks. Tell your doctor about the effects the pain has on your daily life. In this way, the diagnosis can be quickly made, or your doctor can refer you to a pain specialist with the right treatment you can reduce the complaints of pain considerably and might even become pain-free. Nerve pain and tissue pain both need different treatments. As it is almost impossible to become completely free of pain. It is very important to set clear and realistic goals of what you want to reach with a possible treatment and when for example in three months ride your bike for an hour a day.
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Do you grocery shopping or go back to work?
These goals are different for every person. It is easier to find the most appropriate treatment for your situation with the right diagnosis and realistic goals. It is also important to find ways in which you learn to cope with your nerve pain and how to organize your life around it so, try to find out how your pain works and how it influences your daily life. You can use a pain diary for example.
Follow lifestyle advice like exercising and try to spend more time on relaxation. Understanding your companions also plays a big part. Clearly explain what the problem is to your family and friends then, they will understand why sometimes you are not able to participate in all activities, and they will be able to help you if necessary.
Treating Nerve Pain in the Back, Neck and Legs
What Are the Common Causes of Nerve Pain in the Back, Neck and Legs?
Nerve injuries emanating from the spine are most often caused by herniated discs. They can also be caused by narrowing the spinal canal or spinal stenosis or narrowing of the openings by which the nerve roots exit, or foraminal stenosis. They can also be caused by spasms of the nerves or tightening of the tendons which can cause direct pressure on nerves in. Some individuals with underlying nerve pain and spinal pathology can compound this issue.
How Do you Diagnose Nerve Pain?
The best way to diagnose nerve pain involves a careful history and physical examination. That examination can help decide whether or not additional blood tests, MRIs, or even nerve conduction studies will help identify the cause of the pain.
How Is Nerve Pain Treated?
Nerve pain emanating from a herniated disc may respond well to Boudreau steroid injections, anti-neuropathic medications, and physical therapy. In some cases that are so severe, a consultation with a spinal surgeon may be necessary to determine if surgery to relieve pressure may be helpful for patients with persistent. Symptoms, sometimes it’s essential to use highly specialized interventional techniques such as neurostimulation.
What Causes Sciatic Nerve Pain?
In this article, we’re going to give a breakdown of the three main causes of sciatica and what symptoms to look for to help figure out what might be causing your sciatic nerve pain.
- Let’s begin with the most common cause of sciatica, a lumbar herniated disc or a bulging disc. Small, spongy discs cushion the bones, or vertebrae, that form the spine in your back. When the discs are healthy, they act as shock absorbers for the spine and keep it flexible. The disc may become damaged, bulge, or break open through overuse and injury. This is what we call a disc herniation. So a herniated disc will pinch onto nearby nerves causing symptoms such as dull or sharp pains in the low back, muscle spasms or cramping, sciatica, and even leg weakness or loss of leg function. Patients that we see in the office with a disc herniation tend to have a lot of pain when they bend forward from the waist or lift something from the floor; coughing or sneezing usually aggravates it.
- The second cause of sciatica pain is due to piriformis syndrome. We call this ‘pseudo-sciatica’ since true sciatica comes from a pinched nerve in the low back. However, people suffering from piriformis syndrome will still feel sciatica symptoms such as pain, tingling, or numbness in the back of the thigh, calf, or foot. So let’s take a look at what causes it. The piriformis is a small muscle that lies deep in the glutes or buttocks, and the sciatic nerve runs right below the muscle. The piriformis muscle starts at the base of the spine at the sacrum (that funny-looking bone with tiny holes) and attaches to the thigh bone. What this muscle does is helps with rotating the hip and turning the leg and foot outward. Since the sciatic nerve runs deep to the piriformis muscle, you can imagine it getting sandwiched and pinched by the swelling of this muscle due to an injury or spasm. This is very common with runners and overuse injuries. Patients we see with piriformis syndrome will have more pain while they sit since it tightens the muscle and puts pressure on the sciatic nerve. Having pain during activities such as sitting, running, or walking for a long time is also very common.
- The third leading cause of sciatica pain is spinal stenosis when the holes where the spinal nerves travel begin to narrow and become closed off. Think of a canal where a spinal nerve travels through that is becoming smaller and smaller until it’s so tiny it starts to pinch the sciatic nerve and cause shooting pains down the leg. Spinal Stenosis is more common in people over 50 due to wear and tear on the spine, leading to the build-up of osteoarthritis and bone spurs. People that suffer from spinal stenosis have pain when standing up straight, especially after sitting for a long time. Standing and walking for extended periods also tend to cause much pain. Generally, we notice patients lean forward when they walk because it’s too painful to stand up straight.
Those are the leading causes of sciatica.
If you, or someone you know, has been suffering from back pain or sciatica and need help, don’t hesitate to contact us.
We offer modern and effective treatment options that can get you on the road to recovery today.
