Neuralgia is severe nerve pain. The type of pain, and where it occurs, depends on the type of neuralgia that you have.
Trigeminal neuralgia
The symptoms of trigeminal neuralgia may include:
- severe stabbing or piercing pain in your face that comes on suddenly, usually around your cheek or jaw area,
- severe pain in your forehead or around your eyes,
- pain on one side of your face, although in rare cases you may have pain on both sides,
- tingling or numbness in your face before the pain develops,
- spasms of pain that may last from a few seconds to two minutes each time.
If you have trigeminal neuralgia, you may experience spasms of pain regularly for days, weeks or months at a time. In severe cases you may experience the pain hundreds of times a day. However, it is also possible for the pain to disappear completely and not reoccur again for months or even years.
You may also have points on your face that if touched, even gently, will bring on pain. Certain actions or movements can also trigger the pain, such as speaking, eating and washing your face.
Living with trigeminal neuralgia can be very difficult. You may feel like avoiding activities such as washing, shaving or eating, in order to try to prevent the pain from coming on.
Postherpetic neuralgia
The symptoms of postherpetic neuralgia can include:
- constant burning, aching, or throbbing pain at the places on your body where your shingles occurred,
- occasional stabbing or shooting pain, and
- intense itching.
If you have postherpetic neuralgia you may find that your pain is made worse by heat or cold, or that something that would normally only cause mild pain, such as bumping your arm, is very painful.
Like trigeminal neuralgia, postherpetic neuralgia can interfere with your ability to carry out some daily activities such as dressing and bathing. You may also have trouble sleeping and experience fatigue.
