Nerve Pain
Nerve pain, also called neuralgia or neuropathic pain, occurs when a health condition affects the nerves that carry sensation to the brain. It is a particular type of pain that feels different from other kinds of pain. It often feels like a shooting, stabbing or burning sensation. Sometimes it can be as sharp and sudden as an electric shock. People with neuropathic pain are often very sensitive to touch or cold and can experience pain as a result of stimuli that would not normally be painful, such as brushing the skin. There can be loss of sensation and numbness and tingling.
Symptoms
- shooting, burning, or stabbing pain
- tingling and numbness, or a “pins and needles” feeling
- spontaneous pain, or pain that occurs without a trigger
- evoked pain, or pain that’s caused by events that are typically not painful — such as rubbing against something, being in cold temperatures, or brushing your hair
- a chronic sensation of feeling unpleasant or abnormal
- difficulty sleeping or resting
Causes
- Sciatica
- Cervical and lumbar radiculopathy
- Entrapment neuropathy in upper or lower extremities
- Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
- Ulnar neuropathy
- Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome
- Pudendal (pelvic) neuropathy
- Peripheral Neuropathy
- Diabetes
- Chemotherapy
- Medications
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Stroke
- Cancer
- Vitamin Deficiency
- Trigeminal Neuralgia
- Loss of limb
- Infections such as Shingles
- Herniated Disc
- Spinal Cord Injury