Monday, August 4, 2014

Nerve Pain Medication

Nerve Pain Medication
Medically termed neuralgia, nerve pain is pain that follows the path of specific nerves. Its causes vary from injury, nerve degeneration, inflammation, compression by adjacent structures like tumours or inflamed tissues to disease like arthritis. Although it can occur at any age, attacks are most common in the elderly.



It s symptoms include the weakened function of the affected body part due to pain, or muscle weakness due to motor nerve damage, increased sensitivity of the skin i.e. touch or pressure is felt as pain and numbness of the affected skin area. Individuals may experience sharp, stabbing pain that comes and goes or constant, burning pain. In certain cases movement is also painful.



There are no definite tests for determining if a person has neuralgia, but blood tests to check blood sugar and kidney function, MRIs and spinal taps may be done to find the cause of the pain. Once the cause is determined treatment is then possible. The aim of treatment is to reverse or control the cause of the nerve problem, and provide pain relief. Nerve pain treatment may vary depending on the cause, location, and harshness of the pain.



For those individuals whose nerve pain cannot be treated, there is nerve pain medication to control nerve pain. Anti-convulsant medications are the nerve pain medications that work to relieve nerve pain. These nerve pain medications alter the function of the nerve and the signals that are sent to the brain. The most commonly prescribed anticonvulsant nerve pain medication is Neurontin. Another option that has more recently emerged is called Lyrica, this medication is most particularly for the treatment of fibromyalgia. .



Other nerve pain medications include anti-depressant medications like amitriptyline, duloxitine, and anti-seizure medications such as carbamazepine, and phenytoin for trigeminal neuralgia pain. Some over the counter medications like aspirin and ibuprofen as well as narcotic analgesics like codeine for short-term relief of severe pain.



Most of the neuralgia are neither life-threatening nor are they signs of other life-threatening disorders or illnesses. Attacks of pain usually come and go, and most importantly most neuralgias will respond to treatment.






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