Nerve pain, is it all the same?
- md-clinic5
- Jun 29, 2017
- 2 min read
Is all pain the same?
Pain is complex and different types of pain exist. In general, pain is a sensation that you feel because nerves (which are like electric wires) send information about potentially damaging stimuli to your brain from the body. There are two main types of pain. The most common is nociceptive pain, which simply means pain caused by a painful event. It occurs when, for example, you twist your ankle and pain receptors at the ends of nerves in the ankle where the damage occurs are switched on. Nociceptive pain is usually time limited, meaning that when the tissue damage heals, the pain typically resolves. Nerve pain (also called neuropathic pain) is pain caused by damage to the nerves themselves. The nerves behave abnormally for instance by telling your brain that pain is happening even after the damage has healed. Assessing whether pain is nociceptive or neuropathic can be difficult and sometimes they occur together. Nerve pain is often described as:
Burning
Crawling
Electric shock or shooting
Freezing
Stabbing
Causes of Nerve pain
The common causes are
-Diabetes: the nerves of the feet are often affected
-After Shingles: shingles is caused by the chickenpox virus and can damage nerves
Other causes include pain after limb amputation, spinal cord injury, cancer, back pain and multiple sclerosis.
Treat pain early
All nerve pain should be treated as early as possible. This helps to reduce the impact on quality of life and lowers the risk of pain becoming chronic (persisting 3 months or more). Non-medication strategies that could help reduce the pain include stress reduction, good sleep, physiotherapy, and electrical nerve stimulation (TENS). Certain medications may help such as those used for epilepsy, and depression, strong pain killers and skin ointments. Paracetamol usually only help nociceptive pain.
Speak to your doctor who will help you set realistic goals and discuss strategies to improve your function and quality of life, such as the ability to do your usual daily activities as well as reducing the pain itself.
