Nerve damage or injury in the central or peripheral nervous systems can result in neuropathic pain. It could be a sharp, burning sensation or numbness and tingling. Diabetes, cancer, and other disorders can all harm the nerves.
Injury or disease can kill nerve fibres, disrupting pain signals to and from other parts of the body.
Nerve injury can cause existing signals to be distorted, new signals to be generated or present signal transmission to be interrupted. Non-pain signals can also be made unpleasant at times. These problems can cause a variety of unpleasant symptoms, ranging from moderate to severe.
Because neurological damage affects the senses, people’s feelings of touch, temperature, movement, and pressure may change. Find out more
Causes
Various medical conditions can cause nerve damage, resulting in neuropathic pain. Here are a few examples:
- Diabetes
- Cancer chemotherapy and cancer treatments
- An example of a neurological illness is multiple sclerosis (MS).
- Parkinsonism and other neurodegenerative disorders
- Stroke
- Shingles
- HIV
- Hansen’s disease (leprosy)
- Guillain-Barré syndrome is a neurological condition.
- Vascular disease of blood vessels
- Vascular abnormalities
- Autoimmune disorders
Injury can induce tissue and nerve damage, as well as excessive nerve strain. This can occur after surgery or as a result of a significant event, such as spinal cord damage.
Nerve damage and neuropathic pain can be caused by some infections, such as shingles.
Types
There are multiple types of neuropathy that affect different nerves and areas of the body.
Damage to a single nerve is known as mononeuropathy, but damage to two or more nerves in different locations is known as multiple mononeuropathy.
Trusted Source, most of the time, there is damage to numerous nerves, which is known as polyneuropathy.
Following sections will look at several types of neuropathy and explain which body areas they generally affect.
- Peripheral neuropathy
- Autonomic nervous system neuropathy
- Specific neuropathy
- Proximal nerve neuropathy
- Neuropathy caused by diabetes
- Compression-induced mononeuropathy
- The Phantom Limb Syndrome
- A type of nerve discomfort is trigeminal neuralgia.
- Postherpetic neuralgia
- Thoracic or lumbar spine radiculopathy
Symptoms
Among the symptoms of neuropathic pain are:
- Excruciating pain such as shooting, throbbing, or scorching
- Electricity-like sensations
- Numbness
- A sense of tingling, sometimes known as “pins and needles”
- Reduced use of the senses, such as difficulty perceiving temperature
- Skin that is mottled or reddish in colour
- Itchiness
- Weather-related changes in pain
Neuropathic pain patients may become exceedingly sensitive to touch. Even the slightest pressure or friction from clothing or a gentle touch may aggravate nerves and cause discomfort.
Treatment
Some neuropathy symptoms will go away with time. Treatment or treatment of the underlying cause may aid in the reduction of neuropathic pain symptoms.
Chronic neuropathic pain patients may require treatment to ease severe or incapacitating symptoms.
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medicine are frequently unsuccessful in the treatment of neuropathic pain.
Other medications that may help with nerve pain treatment include:
- Epilepsy medication
- Antidepressants
- Opioid
- Capsaicin-infused cream
- Lidocaine patch
- Injections or nerve blocks with a combination of steroids, opioid, and anesthetics
Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) therapy may also be recommended by a doctor. A TENS machine delivers a little electrical impulse to the painful area through an electrode linked to the skin.