Several factors can elicit head pain, but when a headache starts in the base of the skull and rises in sharp or burning waves, it can be linked to occipital neuralgia. Its victims are the occipital nerves, which carry sensation from the top of the spinal cord to the scalp. Because symptoms mimic migraines or tension headaches or even neck injuries, many people would go months or years without receiving a true diagnosis. Patients who are familiar with the occipital neuralgia symptoms of occipital neuralgia are able to recognize at a glance when they are uncertain whether their pain might be in their nerves and when they have to visit a doctor. Early recognition and intervention can greatly improve our overall health and reduce recurrent pain.
What is Occipital Neuralgia?
Occipital neuralgia — A neurological condition characterized by an increased degree of irritability or inflammation found in the greater, lesser or third occipital nerves. In sensory contexts, the back of the head and top is sensitized. When they are pressed, inflamed or seriously injured, they also can cause a lot of pain radiating from the neck to the scalp. Unlike with typical headaches, occipital neuralgia is typically something like sudden electric stabbing or a shock, the painful sensation of a jolt. It may result from trauma, poor posture, repeated neck strain, a more severe spinal lesion or some without proper cause.
What are the common symptoms of occipital neuralgia?
Pain that starts at its deepest level and rises throughout the scalp is the hallmark symptom of occipital neuralgia. Of patients, most can have one head side but can also have the other (both). Pain attacks have no time; they come and go, and they can last hours. Some are sore and intense for little to no time, others have a long period of tenderness and pain between a flare-up. The common occipital neuralgia first symptoms are stabbing, sharp-like pain in the back of the head, accompanied by burning or throbbing pain near the scalp. Pain behind the eyes, light sensitivity, tenderness with the scalp, neck movement are common too. Also possible is an upper neck pain, and numbness or tingling of the scalp. Usually, those get worse with lying on a pillow, brushing hair or turning the head in a particular direction.
How Do the Most Occipital Neuralgia Victims Feel Pain?
Pain is common in the upper neck or base of skull. It can then proceed towards the crown or into the side of an eye, he says. And as occipital nerves travel through the scalp — that pain will go through a pathway. Some regions of scalp come and go over the whole area, but others are sensitive. Sore-to-the-touch pain occasionally arises on the side of the area, for instance around times of great pain. Occipital neuralgia pain is usually believed to be migraine headaches and may also be mistaken with migraines, in some cases also they may be mistaken as a migraine headache, or occipital neuralgia — also pain that may be light sensitive and throbbing to blood. But occipital neuralgia pain is defined mainly by the nerve tenderness and shooting pain that starts from the neck. However pain is typically in the neck during the occipital neuralgia phase.
Is eye pain caused by occipital neuralgia?
Yes. Most of the common complaints of patients with occipital neuralgia are about pain behind the eyes or in the area of the forehead. That’s because irritated occipital nerves could carry referred pain to nearby areas of the head and face. Pain in the eye caused by occipital neuralgia can be deep, achy, or pressure-related. Flare-ups also create more blurred vision or increased light sensitivity with other eyes. As most of these symptoms occipital neuralgia are correlated with migraines and other neurological diseases, a thorough medical evaluation is vital.
How do these conditions cause occipital neuralgia on the hands?
Occipital neurological injury happens in the form of the sudden and devastating change in the position of a muscle in which it has contracted and contracted simultaneously, as well as some of the occipital nerves within the muscle being displaced or compressed, and can lead to an injury. This irritation may lead to complications of a constellation of disease processes: there could be several underlying factors. Common causes include tight muscles and neck tension. An extremely tight neck will press the occipital nerves inward, and so will the bad posture due to overuse of a computer or phone. Trauma or injury may also be a consideration. Whiplash injuries, falls, or sporting accidents may irritate the nerves.
Symptoms develop slowly following an acute injury. Cervical spine disorders, for example, arthritis, degenerative disc disease, and spinal degeneration can cause stress to the nerves that are connected and surrounding it. A long working day or a long day of work also applies pressure to the neck over time and irritation in the nerves. Other medical conditions patients may have, such as diabetes, gout, infections or inflammatory disorders, could exacerbate nerve inflammation as well. But some cases do not have an obvious reason.
How is occipital neuralgia different from a migraine?
In migraine patients too the symptoms are very similar–so both are quite disconcerting. But there are two key differences between the two diseases. The migraines typically include throbbing pain in the head, nausea, visual disturbances and sensitivity to light or sound. With occipital neuralgia, stabbing or electric-shock sensations begin very close to the neck and extend upwards. A huge difference is scalp tenderness, prior to it all. People with occipital neuralgia generally suffer pain on the rear of their head (located where the occipital nerves reside) during times of resting applied pressure to the back of their head, as in individual cases above. In some cases, people who have migraines may also have occipital neuralgia, making the diagnosis complex.
What Are The Symptoms Of Occipital Neuralgia?
A diagnosis starts with a history and physical examination. A doctor could, for example, press on the occipital nerves for tenderness or simulate symptoms. Doctors may also monitor neck movement, muscle tension, and neurological health. MRI or CT scans and associated imaging studies can rule out structural issues from spine or brain. One of the best diagnostic tests is occipital nerve block. In this procedure local anesthetic is administered near the line of injury of the nerve. So, the same symptomatic relief that’s only temporary very much reflects occipital neuralgia.
Which procedures are effective in ameliorating occipital neuralgia?
And the treatment plan is focused on symptom severity as well as root cause. Some, at least initially, do well with conservative treatments. Physical therapy, retraining your posture, massage, anti-inflammatory treatment, anti-inflammatory medications and muscle relaxants will usually help to reduce the inflammation and irritation in your nerves. In addition to other therapies heat therapy, along with stretching, may also alleviate symptoms. If persistent pain is reported, physicians may be encouraged to recommend nerve blocks, steroid therapies, radiofrequency ablation programs or other therapies to shatter the pain signal. In severe, persistent disease with insufficient response to conservative therapy, the occipital nerves can be surgically decompressed.
When Do You Visit a Doctor for Occipital Neuralgia Symptoms?
But chronic pain in the nerves is a symptom and must not be ignored entirely. An occasional headache can appear when you go to see your doctor; but if it is profound, progressive, or too severe such as it interrupts normal operations in order to interfere with normal function the doctor’s notes have always been invaluable. People who have sudden and severe headache or unexplained pain in the brain’s base region, persistent pain of the base of the skull and numbness, weakness, fever symptoms, and neurological symptoms caused from an injury to the head or neck, and sudden or severe head pain that can keep the brain from moving are required to see a doctor. If not, rest or medication does not ameliorate symptoms and further investigation should proceed with some precaution to be taken if any of these do not improve. An accurate and documented diagnosis of occipital neuralgia is the cornerstone of treatment, since the neurological illness resembles those of other neurological diseases.
Conclusion
The symptoms of occipital neuralgia can be painful and annoying and, if confused with migraines or tension headaches, are even more likely to discombobulate. Sharp or tender pain at the bottom of the skull, scalp tenderness, neck pain or even shooting sensations are common findings from this disease of the nervous system. But it is only when the nerve irritation emerges and is treated that patients receive the much-needed relief. If you have chronic head or neck pain resembling occipital neuralgia, a doctor can help you pinpoint what is causing your pain and guide you toward appropriate care.
