Nerve (neuropathic) pain is a condition that’s usually chronic that can be incredibly challenging for those dealing with it. Treatment might take a long time and include medicines, physical therapy, psychological counseling, or even surgery. It can take many forms, feel like burning, pinpricks, or sudden electricity shocks, and is likely to disrupt your personal and professional life.
While, in some cases, nerve pain can’t be cured, there are ways to deal with it and make it more manageable. You can try taking painkillers, buy CBD topicals, or implement some lifestyle changes. Of course, there’s no magical one-size-fits-all solution that will instantly provide you with the desired results, and it might be a process of trial and error.
With that being said, read the article below to learn more about nerve pain and how you can try to tear it to live a more comfortable life.
What Is Nerve Pain?
Nerve pain occurs when a health condition affects the nerves that carry sensation to the brain. Normally, pain is supposed to prevent us from getting injured. For example, when you’re walking and suddenly you step on something sharp, like a piece of glass that’s just laying around, the initial sting sensation can stop you from stepping any harder and therefore save you from getting hurt.
However, in people with nerve pain, the same “messaging” system isn’t working the way it should be. Your brain still receives pain signals and you feel physical pain, but there’s no obvious source, like a piece of glass stuck in your foot. It can almost seem like a pain that has no reason or purpose, and thus you don’t know how to relieve it. There’s no external threat, no piece of glass that you can just take out, and instead, you have to try to treat the internal source of the pain or the whole experience. Usually, it’s damage from a physical injury or disease that makes your nerves behave this way.
Nerve Pain Symptoms
It’s crucial to note that symptoms of nerve pain can vary from person to person. Damage to the sensory nerves in your body doesn’t result in pain only. It can also result in:
- Pricking
- Tingling
- Numbness
- Loss of reflexes
The amount and intensity of the pain are, in most cases, linked to the underlying condition that’s causing it. Usually, the older people get, the more severe the pain gets.
Treatment Options
In cases where the nerve pain is caused by underlying conditions such as diabetes, Lyme disease, cancer, or any other condition, you may need to visit a nerve pain specialist as treating it is obviously a priority. However, efforts to deal with the underlying disease might not ease the nerve pain and it may need its own separate treatment. Here’s what you can try.
Topical Treatments
There are many over-the-counter creams and ointments available on the market and all of them can relieve nerve pain, depending on the cause and its severity. Creams, lotions, gels, and patches might all prove to be helpful when dealing with this condition. Capsaicin is also one of the most effective ingredients for topical pain relief. Some people also use CBD topicals, such as gels, to reduce inflammation and pain. Topicals tend to work best for pain that’s isolated in specific areas such as joint pain.
Painkillers
For severe nerve pain, powerful opioid painkillers can help. Their main advantage is that they can provide quick relief. However, they should only be used in types of pain caused by the most painful conditions, such as cancer. For other kinds of nerve pain, patients usually are first advised by doctors to try anti-inflammatories, over-the-counter pain relievers, or anticonvulsants first. This is mostly due to how powerful opioids are, the side effects they can cause, and how highly addictive they are.
Alternative Therapies
While there are no definitive answers to whether or not some therapies work, it seems to be worth giving them a try. In some cases, treating another problem can help the pain that you are experiencing overall. For example, you can try something like a smart cupping massager to try to relieve some of the pain in certain areas of your body. If this doesn’t work, there are some people that say certain types of tea have healing benefits. This doesn’t work for everyone, but some people have seen huge successes when they have tried it out.
Electrical Stimulation
There are a number of treatment options that use electrical impulses to block the pain messages sent by damaged nerves. They include repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation). Their main advantage is that they’re completely painless and noninvasive. However, both should be used with caution as the overstimulation from the eclectic shocks can make the pain worse. If you decide to explore the possibility of TENS or rTMS therapy, ask your doctor whether they are applicable to your problem.
Acupuncture
Acupuncture can be used to help restore blood flow and stimulate the body’s nerve pathways. It’s also able to aid with nerve regeneration and preservation. That’s why many people with neuropathy turn to acupuncture to relieve their chronic pain.
Remember that before you get started with acupuncture, it is crucial that you talk with your doctor first to discuss the underlying causes of your nerve pain. Without proper caution and medical diagnosis, acupuncture may worsen pain symptoms or cause injury. That’s why you should only try it if you’re advised to do so by a medical professional.
Conclusion
Experiencing nerve pain, no matter how severe it is, can make you feel utterly alone. There’s no injury that your friends or family can see and truly understand what you’re going through, which might result in lots of frustration and misunderstandings. But you’re not alone, as per experts’ opinion, an estimated 20 million Americans have some form of neuropathy.
To deal with your condition, you can try treatment options such as topical treatments, painkillers, electrical stimulation, or acupuncture. Talk to your doctor about the treating option you’re interested in and listen to their advice to figure out which of the methods listed above you could try.
