Live Life Team
Severe pain occurring from the nerve is called as neuralgia. The two types of neuralgia are, trigeminal and postherpetic neuralgia.
Trigeminal neuralgia
Suddenly arising severe facial nerve pain often described as electric shock, shooting or stabbing pain in the face lasting for about few minutes. This affects only one side of the face, seldom people complain of pain in both the sides of the face.
This is rare condition and affects about 4-5 people in 100,000 each year. This is not uncommon and is very rare in people below 40 years of age. Women are more affected by these as compared to men. This can be chronic and can get worse with time. These pains can be treated with medicines, however surgeries is needed in certain cases.
Postherpetic neuralgia
Postherpetic neuralgia occurs as a result of shingles, it is a constant nerve pain that can get severe. Varicella zoster is a virus, that causes a infection called shingles. This affects abdomen and chest, causing rash and pain. Shingles lasts for two to four weeks, if the pain continues after healing the rash, it is called as postherpetic neuralgia.
Postherpetic neuralgia is common cause due to shingles. It is difficult to analyze how many are affected by this as there are different symptoms like time taken to develop and how long pain has lasted. At least 20% of people with shingles will have postherpetic neuralgia. Children rarely get it but may develop in later years. Treatments and medicines can ease symptoms but the pain might remain for sometime.
Symptoms
There are two types of neuralgia depending on the pain, like:
Trigeminal neuralgia
The symptoms of this are: Pain that can last from few minutes to seconds, numbness on face before pain, pain on one side or at times both sides of face, severe pain around eyes and forehead, severe pain in your face that occurs suddenly around jaw or cheek area. You can experience these pain for months, weeks or days, the pain can get severe and you may experience it several times a day. It can also be possible that the pain might disappear completely for some time. Eating, washing and speaking can also cause pain. There can be certain points on face when touched causes pain.
Postherpetic neuralgia
Intense itching, shooting pain occasionally, constant aching, burning pain at places where shingles are present, these are the symptoms of postherpetic neuralgia. The pain can also increase by cold or heat. This affects day to day activities like bathing, dressing, causes fatigue and will be troublesome while breathing.
Causes
Trigeminal neuralgia
There are two trigeminal nerves in your face, one on each side, splitting into three branches which transmit pain from your teeth, face & mouth to your brain. The causes for this is not yet determined. In about 80-90% cases it is believed to be caused by Blood vessels pressing the root of trigeminal nerve. This causes severe pain which travels along the nerve to your face.
There can also be a possibility of pressure on the trigeminal nerve from tumour & multiple sclerosis (condition affecting nervous system). The nerve fibers of central nervous system get damaged due to body’s own immune system. This affects the trigeminal nerve.
Postherpetic neuralgia
In postherpetic neuralgia, shingles damages the nerve and this prevents them from working properly, this signals the brain and results in throbbing or burning pain of the nerves. It is not yet determined why people having shingles develop postherpetic neuralgia even after the infection has gone. There can be a possibility that nerve damaged cause by shingles can lead to scar tissue forming next to the nerves, these presses on the nerve and sends pain signals to the brain.
