Face pain and headache can be of various nature and for various reasons. Most often, people suffering from sinusitis complain of this type of ailment. However, when the pain does not come from this disease and is nagging and radiating to different parts of the face – it can be a symptom of a dangerous disease. One of them is neuralgia, which, due to its persistent nature, can even lead the patient to suicidal thoughts. A proper medical diagnosis is essential here.
This neuralgia (caused by nerve damage or irritation) was first recognized in the XNUMXth century. Despite the passage of many decades, it is very often confused with other causes of headache. In such cases, taking painkillers usually does not bring any relief, and if the relief is felt to a slight extent, it is unfortunately only for a short time. That is why proper and careful diagnosis is so important. If we are accompanied by exceptionally severe pain that lasts for a long time, we should contact a specialist. Untreated facial neuralgia can lead to dangerous complications, and self-selection of medications can lead to nowhere.
When is it neuralgia?
The cause of pain is most often unknown. Neuralgia is unlikely to produce objective signs of nerve damage. Even specialist tests show no damage. Colloquially, it is said that it is spontaneous pain. Therefore, accurate description of symptoms by the patient is the key to quick diagnosis and effective treatment. The basis is to conduct research to exclude other origins of pain. Neuralgia always appears in the same place, suddenly. It is intense but short, described as burning, stinging, sharp, piercing, electrifying, drilling. Very often it is triggered by irritation of trigger points on the face. Inadequately treated neuralgia can cause more and more frequent attacks, and when the intervals between pains are relatively short, we talk about permanent pain, i.e. a neuralgic state.
Types of neuralgia
The pain is caused by a damaged nerve located in various parts of the face. The diagnosis includes
- Trigeminal neuralgia – an attack of pain in half of the face, lasting from a few to several seconds. The pain affects the jaw, cheeks, teeth, mouth, gums and even the eyes and forehead. Symptoms may be accompanied by a runny nose, tearing, redness of the facial skin and sometimes also hearing and taste disorders. This type of pain is the most common facial neuralgia;
- Glossary – pharyngeal neuralgia – this neuralgia is accompanied by very strong, even stabbing, one-sided pain located insanely in the adenoid, larynx, back of the tongue, around the angle of the mandible, nasopharynx and in the auricle. Pain attacks occur suddenly throughout the day and can last from a few seconds to several minutes;
- Auricular-temporal neurology is characterized by unilateral facial pain. The associated symptoms are: redness of the skin of the face and/or ear due to vasodilation, excessive sweating of the face, tingling and burning sensation of the skin. Pain attacks can be spontaneous or provoked by, for example, eating meals.
There is also neurociliary neuralgia, sphenopalatine neuralgia, vagal neuralgia, postherpetic neuralgia. Treatment of this disease is mainly based on taking antiepileptic drugs. Painkillers are used on an ad hoc basis and are not able to stop seizures in the long term. Complications of neuralgia are often depression and neurasthenia (a form of neurosis). Hence, patients with neuralgia often go to a psychiatrist rather than a neurologist.