Does anyone else have neuralgia in any other areas of the body? I have noticed that I have the same pain that my skin in my face gets where it hurts when anything touches it in other areas of my body but it all seems centered on just my left side just wondering if anyone else has had this making an appt with the neuro to have it all checked out just wondering if anyone else has experienced this as well.
Generalized neuropathic pain can affect any area of the body. So can fibromyalgia. In any case, the central question to be resolved is "what is causing this neuropathic pain or neuralgia". BTW: By definition, I believe neuralgia is usually distinguished from other types of nerve pain by occurring only in an individual nerve distribution, rather than across several areas of the body, involving multiple nerves.
Regards, Red
Thanks for that I am waiting on my GP to send the referral over to mayfield and hopefully they can help me out !!
I have all my pain on my left side of body too.27years of it.I was diagnosed with firbromyalgia,but now the new neurologist doesnt think I have it.Checking again for ms,lyme and lupus.The Neurologist did say its a mystery with me.LOL...I hope you get answers.I really feel your pain.Barb
My left sided eye/face pain started Sept. 2010 and became intolerable December 2011 right around when my left leg and arm had different feelings (not pain) going through them like spots on my leg feeling "wet" and like there is no feeling when I touch it and my arm feels numb at times.
My family Dr. diagnosed me with essential tremor which started at the same time in my left hand and the neurologist sent me for an MRI thinking I had MS. MRI came back perfectly clean so I was told it's anxiety.
Does your left side hurt? Please let us know how appoinment turns out.
Hi Tracie
I had a lot of pain on my right side ( arm, hand, leg, foot ) which is the same side I have the TN pain before I was diagnosed correctly with TN and put on Tegretol. Before that, I had seen a neurologist who had me on Topomax, since he thought my pain was all related to another underlying conditon I have, called a Chiari Malformation, which had been surgically corrected about 9 years ago.he did not think I had TN at all.The topomax never helped my pain.
I just saw the new neurologist and started the tegretol last week, but I am already feel ing much better. The leg, foot, arm and hand neuralgia painis gone, and the TN facial and head pain is greatly reduced. I don’t know if that other neuralgia is related to TN In way, but am sure happy to see it go!
Here's my story...The first time I truly remember having TN was July 2004..never went to the doctor for it..I have had other nerves around my body hurt so I thought nothing of it. Then in August 2006, during a weeklong CPE event, the room we were in for the CPE was cooled to a very low temperature the entire week and we all froze. That triggered a 10 day horror of TN episode. In late January 2008 I had to sleep in a very cold room overnight without any means of getting warm, and you guessed it, 10 days of TN misery. This time, I went to a second neurologist who did yet another MRI thinking it was MS, a tumor, a compressed blood vessel..etc..nothing..I can tell you I avoid getting cold for too long like the plague..I have a blanket, a space heater and a sweater in my office to make sure I don't get cold and stay cold and so far, I have not had a TN episode since Jan 31, 2008. BTW, my TN pain has only been on the right side of my face, starting as little twitches from my ear when it gets to full throttle, it goes down my jaw..Oops..I have went to three neurologists...the second one looked like she was 12 years old and didn't do anything but send me home with a fist full of drug prescriptions that I could have got a ticket for DUI for on my way to work if I would have taken as prescribed...hence, I stopped taking them.
The problem is, now I have a band of nerves on my right side(rib cage) that does it..starts like a feeling of a rug burn under my bra, then the electrical stabbing pain radiating from my back around my ribs toward the front and ends with my skin feeling burned.The stabs are so bad they cause me to jump and jerk.. This is when I went to the third neurologist. He tested me for diabetes, an MRI, shingles (I have never had chicken pox) etc...all came out clear...this flares up actualy pretty frequently..the last two times was about 3 months apart..was just in July...I keep a journal to see if I can find a trigger and what I do to feel better...I take neurontin when it starts and that shuts down the stabbing pain but does nothing for the burining pain and does not shorten the 7-10 day episode.
My question is does anyone else have multiple neuralgias and what do the doctors say and what do they do? I am so frustrated at the neurologists just ignoring what I have to say. I usually can't get into them when an episode happens because they are booked out so far...
I have neuropathy in my feet from a b12 defiency (I wish I could still spell) and have periods of sharp pain. But I also started having sharp pains in the TN side of my body even though the pain of TN is gone since I've been on Trileptal. I also have tics and spasms that I attribute to all my neural pathways being slowed down due to the trileptal.
BTW my TN doesnt keep me awake or prevent me from sleeping and my face feels real good undeer a hot shower when it flares up...but woe when I wake up!
We should make a distinction between neuralgia and neuropathic pain. They tend to be treated with different classes of medications.
The following reference content seems accurate as to how neuralgia is classified and what it comprises: http://www.laserspineinstitute.com/back_problems/neuralgia/types. In the 17 years I've supported TN patients, I have heard of only one area of the body other than the face and rear quadrant of the head which is regularly noted as a site for neuralgia: the lower spine and distribution of the sciatic nerves.
Somewhat unlike neuralgia, neuropathy is very often attributable to some discrete underlying cause by injury. Blunt force trauma which physically compresses or stretches a nerve is famously associated with ongoing pain even after all muscle or bone damage has nominally healed. Diabetes is also a common cause of peripheral neuropathic pain, associated with edema (fluid retention) and compromise of circulation in the lower legs or arms. Other underlying causes may include herpes infection in Shingles (post herpetic neuralgia, which can affect one side of the face, or one side of the body in other areas) , systemic vasculitis, Lupus, Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (a form of referred pain occurring in areas remote from the site of a physical injury). There are probably more that simply don't come to mind at present.
Regards and best,
Red
Iguess you've never heard of intercostal neuralgia..which, like shingles can be around the ribcage going around forward...and like TN starts with stabbing, electric shocklike pain and burining skin...
You're right, Jamp-- I hadn't heard of intercostal neuralgia. I'm not a medical doctor and even some of them haven't been trained in every variety of neuralgia. However, I would point out that one of the common causes of this variety of neuralgia is Shingles. So might that qualify as a neuropathic pain affecting "one side of the body in other areas"? {:-)
Regards, Red
Red
To be honest, I just know that it hurts like hell, but nothing compared to my TN!!! I can truly say that if I had to have both, I'm glad to have the ribcage neuraglia more often that the TN which I haven't had in almost 5 years....
I don't have shingles...I have been tested and retested for it...that's not what it is...don't have diabetes..none of the usual..they have never found a reason for my TN or ribcage neuraglia...I don't call it intercostal neuralgia because it hasn't been diagnosed as such, I just know about it from my own research.. I did find one shingles website a few years ago that had a picture on it that showed exactly where mine is, but the intercostal neuralgia page has a similar picture..Both of my neuralgia's are on the right side of my body predominantly but I think I've had one episode of ribcage on the left but it wasn't anything as bad as the usual..if you get my drift...
I don't know the difference between neuralgia and neruopathic pain and as a sufferer, the difference probably means little to me unless the distinction opens up more possible avenues for relief..no offense, I hope you understand...
I get real tired of doctors looking at you like your a crazy hypochondriac or lying to get drugs...even neurologists who are trained but have no idea and nothing personally to relate it to...I only take neurontin and it is certainly nothing to be begging for ..I don't take any narcotics for this or anything...
Richard A. "Red" Lawhern said:
You're right, Jamp-- I hadn't heard of intercostal neuralgia. I'm not a medical doctor and even some of them haven't been trained in every variety of neuralgia. However, I would point out that one of the common causes of this variety of neuralgia is Shingles. So might that qualify as a neuropathic pain affecting "one side of the body in other areas"? {:-)
Regards, Red
Regards, Red
When I get the stabbing pain in my left temple, It also hits right under my left rib cage too. I look silly reacting to it. It does only last a couple of seconds. I haven't heard of anyone else with this kind of episodes. I have also had them since I was 7-10. I am now 35. But the Teeth and ear ache pain come solo and just go on and on. No other places get the pain. Just the stabbing electrical shocks.
Mine is all on my left side and YES I sure do get pain in other areas. Although I do have numbness in my fingers and toes on both sides and my whole body just aches terrible. there is a spot on my right foot that feels like someone put a lit match on my skin.
Thankfully, I've never had the two pains at the same time...I don't know what triggers or has caused the nerve pain on my ribs...as I said previously, unless knowing the cause opens up more options that are curative, my objective when it happens is pain management and relief. The two pains, however (my TN and the rib neuralgia), do have similarities in that they both are stabbing, electric pains that can take my breath away for a split second and cause me to be on edge the longer it continues..they both also last for several days per episode. Only the rib neuralgia causes the burning skin sensation...
I was given a diagnosis of Fibromyalgia on Friday. I have another appt with the neurologist on Tuesday to go through some other symptoms and set up a new plan of treatment. He is also giving me trigger point injections in my neck and head. I want some in my shoulders too! I will ask about he peripheral neuropathy. My facial pain is a whole other issue from the fibro, but the other symptoms somehow coincide. This is quite a handful of mysterious pains and diagnoses.
Thanks!
Laura