What does nerve pain feel like?

Nerve pain comes from damage to the nerves, which send and receive electrical impulses throughout your body. Your nerves play several roles in communicating with your brain, including sending pain signals or transmitting information to your muscles, telling them to move.

Not all nerve pain feels the same. In fact, nerve pain can feel like:

• Stabbing
• Burning
• Prickling
• Tingling
• Electrical shocks
• Loss of reflexes

Beyond the pain and sensations of nerve pain itself, there are often secondary effects to experiencing nerve pain. The symptoms can affect your sleep, mood, productivity, and mental health. 

What causes nerve pain?

Numerous conditions can cause nerve pain and even some injuries if they damage the nerves in a particular area. Many forms of nerve pain originate in the spinal cord, which is where all of your other nerves originate. The spinal cord is connected to the brain and has many nerve roots exiting it. 

A few of the most common nerve pain causes are:

• Degenerative disc disease
• Radiculopathy
• Cancer
• Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
• Diabetes
• Shingles
• Crush injuries
• Lacerations
• Stroke
• Vitamin deficiencies
• Unidentified causes

Deceptively, some nerve pain appears in different areas than where it originates. Nerve pain like this typically is generated at or near the spinal cord if a structural defect is pressing on a nerve root. The pain that appears elsewhere, like in an arm or leg, is called referred pain. 

What are my treatment options for nerve pain?

Treating nerve pain might involve some trial and error, but the experts at Pain Medicine Group ensure you get the best care possible. Some of the options that commonly work well for managing nerve pain are:

Lifestyle changes

Lifestyle changes such as making dietary alterations, taking daily supplements, or stopping a smoking habit offer significant improvements to many people experiencing nerve pain. 

Topical medications

Topical medications, including gels, ointments, and patches, effectively ease nerve pain in isolated areas. 

Injections

Injectable treatments such as platelet-rich plasma and epidural steroid injections may result in some improvement for your nerve pain, depending on the underlying cause. 

Radiofrequency ablation

Radiofrequency ablation is a treatment for nerve pain that works by “burning,” or ablating, the nerves where your pain originates. 

Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS)

TENS units emit electrical impulses, which stop your damaged nerves from transmitting pain signals to your brain. 

To schedule a visit and learn more about the many options for nerve pain treatment, call Pain Medicine Group or book an appointment online today.