Occipital Neuralgia Headache: Terrible pain lasting weeks, what helps?

@suszy39, welcome. I added your quesiton to the Headache support group as well. I hope you saw the helpful posts from @pierwell and @suszy39. I'm also bringing @dougs72 @retirement75 @bonnieh218 @fibromyalgia001 into this discussion to get their tips.

You may also be interested in this related discussion:
- Occipital Neuralgia Relief https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/occipital-neuralgia-relief/

I’ve posted several times about my 12-year battle against occipital neuralgia. My current regimen: a Nalu nerve stimulator, Celebrex, Tylenol, heat on neck and ice pack on my scalp. Recently started Somatic Pain Treatment which is helping me learn to cope with the pain (as opposed to fighting it.). Jury is still out on that!

@suszy39 I was diagnosed with Occipital Neuralgia by a Neuro-Opthalmologist in Texas and the only thing she did was press on my neck and ask if I had any tender spots when she did it. I did feel a spot or two that was sore but nothing really bad. I went out of state because I could not find any Doctor where I live to give me a diagnosis. They blamed it on my blood pressure and that is not it. I have had pressure in one place at the back of my head. No sharp shooting pains. So they put me on gabapentin. I have been taking the gabapentin but I don't get side effects from it but I still get head pressure. When I get head pressure my blood pressure goes up. I am in control of my blood pressure. So then after I came home I decided to look closer to home and found a Neuro-Opthalmologist in Alabama and she thinks I don't have Occipital Neuralgia. I have read all about it and I don't have the sharp shooting pains in my head and the other things it says. I am not sure I have it either. So I talked with my Doctor and he is sending me to a group of Doctors who do pain management and more. I spoke with someone in the office today and she told me they also burn the nerves if needed. She told me what to look at on their website it explains a lot. So If I get numbing plus a steroid shot the steroid will make my blood pressure go up. I know this because I had an injection in my back and it did just that. I have been on B12 for some time now. It will be another 30 days before I get to see this Doctor. The appt isn't till January. Then they talk about what they can do for you. So January makes it 11 months that I am still waiting for more help. Gabapentin is one of the medications they give for Occipital Neuralgia and as I said before it hasn't caused me any side effects. I am grateful for that Yet I still get head pressure. I am surprised you are only getting injections. So the shots only last for about three weeks? Since it will be 30 days till I see this Dr. I will have to come back with some responses on what they can do for me and let you know. It is like the goal post keeps moving away from me. I also am aware you can only get so many steroid shots in a time frame. What kind of Doctor did you see to get diagnosed? Did he offer you any type of oral medication? I look up all meds so I am aware of any side effects. I research everything because that helps me to think about what questions to ask. @rnlorena