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Occipital Neuralgia Headache: Terrible pain lasting weeks, what helps?
Headache & Migraine | Last Active: 22 hours ago | Replies (89)Comment receiving replies
I can relate to all the comments here. My Occipital Neuralgia one side of head or the other. It’s sudden lightening bolt like strike pain from neck to side of head. It is so strong. It makes you jump and shout “Ow”. Next day might do the same on other side. Right now I can feel a threatening little jab warning me it might be a big blast of pain coming. The left side of my face is painful,and ear,and teeth. It brings me to tears every day.
I can’t take Gabapentin side effects terrible. I do take B vitamins and 400 mg of Magnesium every night. The Magnesium helps with sleep,so that is just at night. I don’t wish this on my worst enemy. It is called the ‘suicide disease’ by some doctors. I’m not doing that! I’m afraid of shots in head. I don’t tolerate steroids. Doctor said they are painful to get. Is there doctors who just treat this.
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@brenda1944 I had a nerve block and didn’t even feel it. The nerve blocked worked. Which is a good thing. I went to a pain management Doctor who not only deals with what I have but other issues also. I do take Gabapentin but I still get head pressure. So that is why I am going to these Doctors.
I don’t get the pain like it describes for Occipital Neuralgia I only get head pressure. That’s enough to deal with. Please read my other comments. NO Doctor should ever tell you that they are painful to get. That in my opinion is awful. Come February the 17th it will be a year since I started with head pressure. I go to pain management Doctors who don’t just treat pain they do other things. So again I had the nerve block and it was not painful. It worked. So I may have to have one or two more depending on what the Doctor thinks but I am really okay with that. The reason they do those nerve blocks and if it works it tells them that it is your Occipital nerves that are the culprit. So they may do more than one to make sure that’s it. Then they can do an ablation (burning the nerves). They do that under light sedation so your visit might be a total of about 2 hours. Then you go home. Nerves will regenerate between 6-12 months. I am okay with that. They can do it again. If you were to get a nerve block they may not have to do a steroid. That would be a good question to ask. I had gotten a steroid shot in my back over a year ago and the only issue I had it made my blood pressure go up but I handled that. A steroid shot doesn’t hurt. How do you not tolerate a steroid shot please let me know. The nerve block (shot in the head was nothing). IT did not hurt and only took less than maybe 5 minutes. I did not feel it at all. I was surprised by that. I really advocated for myself on many things. I have worked in healthcare and I myself have seen a lot of it go to heck. The group of Doctors that I went to live about 20 minutes away from me. I even drove to Texas to see a Doctor in one of many visits to different doctors and it was worth it. I am so sorry you are having so much pain. I would definitely look into pain management Doctors. The doctors that I see also sees patients with I am sure other types of pain like backs, shoulders you name it. Things like that. Until my regular Doctor suggested them I was not aware because if I was I would have seen them sooner. @rnlorena