Occipital neuralgia is so cunning and slips into your life. You can spend months simply working with strange pains which do not really make sense at all, and you are lost in confusion of what is actually wrong. The occipital neuralgia first symptoms are not very clear and to be honest, they can be quite disturbing, particularly when they just come out of the blue. However, when you are aware of what to seek, you can receive assistance more quickly and prevent a lot of pointless tests, as well as prevent the pain before it occupies your every-day routine.
What is Occipital Neuralgia?
It comes on when your occipital nerves or those which run directly out of the back of your head and up over your head are irritated or squished. When that occurs, those nerves go on like in a rather dramatic manner. The pain isn’t subtle. We means poking, stabbing, almost electricity kind of shocks, which begin at the back of your brain and run to the top. However, prior to it getting that extreme, the majority of individuals are aware of some of the early warning signs.
First Great Tip: Intense, Puncturing Pains at the Top of your Head
The first thing that most people feel? Pain, which is sharp and stabbing at the bottom of the skull, and often only on one side. It is as though one is being pricked with a needle or even zapped in a few seconds. The blame is off so fast, it is simple to forget. Nevertheless, it is so cutting and bizarre that you do not forget it. It is defined as a shock, a jolt, or a sting by people. Although it is barely a heartbeat, it catches your attention.
Aching Where Your Neck Meets with your Skull
The next onset symptom happens to be around your neck- where it is joining to your skull. You squeeze your fingers there, over on one side, that could be sore or bruised–when you did not bang it. It is sometimes simply incongruously sensitive. This pain normally presents itself prior to the actual pain striking, and is an indication that those nerves are beginning to pout.
That Deep, Creeping Pressure
Many people will become aware of something less obvious than the stabbing pain before it appears, and it is a deep, tight pain, beginning in the neck, and crawling up the scalp. It will come round on the side of your head or at the back, behind one eye or even about your temples. Initially, one can attribute this to tension occipital headache or possibly to a migraine. This is one of the reasons why occipital neuralgia does not become apparent in the beginning. But when you are getting the pang running along the head, along a nerve rather than diffusing like the muscular tension, it is a good indication you are not handling the same stuff.
Scalp Fire or Pain
One of the giveaways? That queer burning or pins and needles sensation in the back of your head. It may be that your head is over-sensitive–it even pains you to touch your hair. Others experience tingling at the top of the head or behind the ear. When you experience those strange sensory changes, that is a pretty good indication that the nerves are not only irritated, it is the muscles as well.
Pain That Stings With Movement
Sometimes you may not even know what is wrong or even know before you make a slight movement that will trigger pain. Turning your head, glancing up, bending down or simply lying with your head tilted in a particular manner may give you a shock in your scalp or neck. This is only experienced occasionally in early stages but as the nerve becomes increasingly inflamed the pain becomes more frequent. When you realize that your pain is increased by movement, then it is a great indication that it is not a migraine or sinus problem but is occipital neuralgia.
Light Feels Too Bright
You do not need to give yourself a full-fledged headache, occasionally just a regular light one is mean and uncomfortable. It is not exactly a migraine, but never mind, it is unpleasant. The nerves that run up your scalp lead into this, and when these are out of humour even the ordinary light is too much. When your neck or head is painful, and you begin to notice that your eyes are tightening, that is another early warning that there is something going on.
That Strange Feeling in the Skin of One Eye
Many of the individuals with the condition of occipital neuralgia initially experience this weird pressure at the back of one of their eyes. It is baffling since it sounds exactly the same as migraines or the sinus issues, or even mere eye strain. The thing is, though, that in occipital neuralgia the pressure is typically unilateral and is accompanied by the tenderness of the neck or fast, stinging pains. It is not really your eyes that make your head hurt, but it is the pain that is being referred to by the nerves that are being irritated.
Suddenly Sensitive to Temper and Toile
Even the lightest touch is initially too much. A hat, a pony-tail, a hot shower, a lean in a chair- it all causes pain when it gets to the wrong place. Feeling some cold on the back of your neck? That can sting too. Once your nerves begin to get unmanageable, even simple things are unexpectedly much more intense than they otherwise would be.
What is the Reason behind These Early Symptoms?
Occipital neuralgia typically begins when the nerve in your neck is squeezed or inflamed. Tense muscles, arthritis, whiplash, hours sitting bent over a desk, pinched nerves, clenching jaws–any of this may trigger it. Occasionally there is an apparent reason, at times it is merely a case of tension building up over the years. However, those initial bizarre symptoms generally present themselves by the fact that the nerves were irritated long prior to the time when the pain becomes more serious.
When to Reach Out for Help
One can brush this stuff aside. You are blaming it probably on stress or a bad pillow or just maybe on the fact that you sat funny at your desk and that is the reason. However, when sharp, shooting, pains are continuing to get you, your scalp will be tender days later, or the pain will always begin its course in your neck, and the pain will climb up. Go see someone. Occipital neuralgia can be treated and the sooner the better. You have a choice, you could have physical therapy, nerve blocks, medication and correction of your posture or you could work on neck and muscle issues that may be causing your posture.
Conclusion
Occipital neuralgia has rather obvious red flags, and it is much more comfortable to identify it sooner than later. Those initial explosions of pain, the soreness on your head, the numbness on your head–you need not have a theatrical body. It is trying to tell you the thing is up. Be careful of such indications. You can do well to ensure that, the sooner you make the decision, the more you get under control before the pain actually sets in.
