How long can occipital neuralgia last

One expert points out that it is rare to experience only occipital head pain. Occipital neuralgia may also play a role in unremitting head and neck pain UHNP , according to some researchers. A doctor may diagnose UHNP if a person experiences head and neck pain for 15 days or more per month.

Learn more about different types of headache here. Headaches that occur due to occipital neuralgia can be very painful. The condition involves a sudden but intermittent piercing, shooting, or shock-like pain. This may last from a few seconds to several minutes. There may also be a persistent throbbing, burning, or aching pain that continues between the spasms.

The pain can be intense. Some people say that it feels like a migraine or cluster headache , even though these are different types and require different treatments. Occipital neuralgia can develop when one or more of the occipital nerves becomes irritated, inflamed, or trapped.

Injuries to the neck area, such as whiplash , can damage the nerves and lead to occipital pain. Tight muscles in the neck and the back of the head can sometimes squeeze, pinch, or trap the occipital nerves, leading to occipital neuralgia. It is not always easy to diagnose occipital neuralgia, as it can share symptoms with other types of headache, including migraine.

For example, they may ask how severe the pain is, how often the pain occurs, where the person feels it, and their possible triggers. During a physical exam, the doctor may gently press on the areas where the occipital nerves run, to see if the pressure generates any pain.

The doctor may also inject a nerve block to confirm the diagnosis. If the pain resolves after this, it may indicate that occipital neuralgia was the cause. The following options may help a person manage the pain and discomfort associated with occipital neuralgia:. These options can relieve pain or help relax and release the muscles that are putting pressure on the occipital nerves.

Many people with occipital neuralgia also have migraine. In some cases, treating the migraine may improve the symptoms of occipital head pain.

If home remedies and OTC treatments do not help, a doctor may prescribe :. However, injecting drugs into the vertebrae is a relatively invasive procedure.

Occipital neuralgia episodes are unlikely to have symptoms like eye watering or eye redness, which is common with other primary headache disorders. Unlike tension headaches, occipital neuralgia episodes feel more like stabbing pain instead of a dull throbbing. In some cases, it can be caused by a head or neck injury.

Chronic neck tension is another common cause. Individual attacks or episodes of occipital neuralgia can occur seemingly spontaneously, or be triggered by a light touch. To rule out other conditions and to search for the underlying cause of occipital neuralgia, your doctor may order additional imaging tests like an MRI or a CT scan. This will help them look at your spine, and search for different causes of the pain. In most cases, neurologic exams will come back with no abnormalities from the neuralgia alone.

A variety of different treatment options are available for occipital neuralgia. Your doctor may first recommend trying home treatment, which includes applying warm compresses to the affected area and taking NSAIDs like ibuprofen Advil. Your doctor may also recommend physical therapy, prescription muscle relaxers, and massage, which can help treat pinched nerves caused by tight muscles. Antiepileptic and tricyclic antidepressants can both be used to reduce symptoms as well.

This can provide immediate relief, and it can last up to 12 weeks. Depending on the cause, your doctor may recommend surgery to decrease pressure on the nerves. For instance, nerve compression due to osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis of the cervical spine may be eased through a surgical procedure. Occipital neuralgia can be painful. Postherpetic neuralgia results from nerves that are damaged during a shingles outbreak.

Read more on how to treat it. Pain relief may be immediate and usually lasts as long as the numbness, sometimes the relief may be long lasting. During an occipital nerve block, about a teaspoon of local anesthetic and steroids are injected into the scalp where the trunk of the nerve is. The injection is done at the back of the head, just above the neck. The skin is numbed before the injection is done. A very fine needle is used for the nerve block.

If the injection has been well located, the scalp on that side of the head will go numb quickly. Pain relief can be felt sometimes within minutes. The doctor may ask what the patient is feeling in terms of his or her symptoms.

If there is a lot of swelling in the nerve, the steroids will relieve the pain of that. The full effect of the steroids may not be felt for two or three days. Their effect is more long lasting—sometimes weeks or months. After an occipital nerve block, a patient can usually drive home and return to normal daily activities the following day. The effects of the local anesthetic may wear off in a few hours, but the effects of the steroid begin to increase over the next several days.

The best responses to an occipital nerve block usually come from patients whose pain is relatively recent rather than long-standing. If the first occipital nerve block doesn't relieve the patient's symptoms in a week or two, it may be necessary to have a second injection. Additional nerve blocks may be done to keep the symptoms under control. On the other hand, a lack of results may be a sign that the occipital nerves are not the source of the pain and further work should be done to diagnose the cause of the pain.