A Simple Guide to Neuralgia and Related Nerve Disorders

By Kenneth Kee

Neuralgia

What is Neuralgia?

Neuralgia is any form of pain along a nerve.

What are the causes of Neuralgia?

1. Pressure on a nerve (intervertebral disc or trauma)

2. Inflammation of the nerve by herpes zoster virus ( shingles or herpes zoster)

3. Unknown cause (trigeminal neuralgia or idiopathic)

What are the symptoms of Neuralgia?

1. Pain is along the course or distribution of a nerve.

2. Pain is usually very severe and may be:
a. burning
b. sharp or lancinating
c. irritating
d. aching
e. unpleasant
f. lightning like
g. perversion of other sensation such as tingling, needle like
h. very often described as unlike other pain

3. It is often worse at night

4. It is often made worse by pressure on the nerve and triggered by minimal stimuli such as light touch along the distribution of the nerve.

What are the common types of neuralgia?

1. Sciatica

Sciatica is the pain in the back that radiates down the buttock and thigh down to the leg and foot often aggravated by sneezing or coughing.

Sitting on the painful side of the buttock makes it worse.

Bending or stooping to get some objects also made it worse.

Walking aggravates the pain intensity.

Straight leg raising test is definitely positive for pain and a confirmation of the sciatica.

2. Herpes zoster

Herpes zoster or shingles can give rise to severe pain down one nerve.

It occurs in association with blister like rashes along the path of the nerve.

It is usually common in the elderly and in people whose body resistance is low.

Because of the blister rashes, sometimes scarring occurs over the skin rashes and there may be sensory loss.

The pain in the nerve is not affected by the sensory loss and can be so severe that some patients may attempt suicide.

Often the pain can persists for the rest of the patient's life.

3. Trigeminal neuralgia

Trigeminal neuralgia is another pain which affects the fifth nerve in the face and can very painful.

I had one patient who could not stand the pain and had his nerve cut in order to find relief in spite of the drooping of one side of the face after the surgery by an ENT surgeon.

In spite of the operation, the nerve regenerates itself and the pain returns three years later.

I had to give injections of surgical spirit into the nerve before the pain finally stopped.

How severe is the pain of Neuralgia?

The pain is usually severe enough for the doctor to prescribe painkillers and special drugs like tegretol or gabapentin which reduce the inflammation of the nerve.

For some people the slightest touch or contact with clothing can cause unbearable pain.

How is Neuralgia diagnosed?

1. X-ray of the lumbar spine, teeth, skull and cervical spine

2. MRI of the skull, lumbar and cervical spine

3. Nerve conduction tests

How is Neuralgia treated?

In most cases Neuralgia clears on its own in a few weeks and seldom recurs.

Medical Treatment:

1. Treatment consists of painkillers,

2. Anti nerve inflammation drugs like tegretol and gababentin

3. Antidepressants

4. Anticonvulsants

Injections of Local anesthetic

1. Local nerve block

Surgery:

4. Surgical transection of the nerve-usually recurrence cause more severe neuralgia.

5. In the case of prolapsed or herniated intervertebral disc pressing against the nerve, surgery may be required:

a. Laminectomy the prolapsed disc may be removed

b. Microdiscectomy

This surgery involved insertion of a titanium disc in place of the removed prolapsed disc.

TABLE OF CONTENT

Chapter 1
Neuralgia

Chapter 2
Trigeminal Neuralgia

Chapter 3
Sciatica

Chapter 4
Herpes Zoster

Epilogue

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kenneth Kee
• Release date: Apr 27, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301605330

Kenneth Kee

Medical doctor since 1972.Started Kee Clinic in 1974 at 15 Holland Dr #03-102, relocated to 36 Holland Dr #01-10 in 2009.Did my M.Sc (Health Management ) in 1991 and Ph.D (Healthcare Administration) in 1993.Dr Kenneth Kee is still working as a family doctor at the age of 74However he has reduced his consultation hours to 3 hours in the morning and 2 hours inthe afternoon.He first started writing free blogs on medical disorders seen in the clinic in 2007 on http://kennethkee.blogspot.com.His purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of his patients which is also his dissertation for his Ph.D (Healthcare Administration). He then wrote an autobiography account of his journey as a medical student to family doctor on his other blog http://afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.comThis autobiography account “A Family Doctor’s Tale” was combined with his early “A Simple Guide to Medical Disorders” into a new Wordpress Blog “A Family Doctor’s Tale” on http://ken-med.com.From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 1000 eBooks.He apologized for typos and spelling mistakes in his earlier books.He will endeavor to improve the writing in futures.Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple.For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients.The later books go into more details of medical disorders.He has published 1000 eBooks on various subjects on health, 1 autobiography of his medical journey, another on the autobiography of a Cancer survivor, 2 children stories and one how to study for his nephew and grand-daughter.The purpose of these simple guides is to educate patient on health disorders and not meant as textbooks.He does not do any night duty since 2000 ever since Dr Tan had his second stroke.His clinic is now relocated to the Buona Vista Community Centre.The 2 units of his original clinic are being demolished to make way for a new Shopping Mall.He is now doing some blogging and internet surfing (bulletin boards since the 1980's) startingwith the Apple computer and going to PC.The entire PC is upgraded by himself from XT to the present Pentium duo core.The present Intel i7 CPU is out of reach at the moment because the CPU is still expensive.He is also into DIY changing his own toilet cistern and other electric appliance.His hunger for knowledge has not abated and he is a lifelong learner.The children have all grown up and there are 2 grandchildren who are even more technically advanced than the grandfather where mobile phones are concerned.This book is taken from some of the many articles in his blog (now with 740 posts) A Family Doctor’s Tale.Dr Kee is the author of:"A Family Doctor's Tale""Life Lessons Learned From The Study And Practice Of Medicine""Case Notes From A Family Doctor"

Book preview

A

Simple

Guide

To

Neuralgia

And

Related Nerve Disorders

by

Dr Kenneth Kee

M.B.,B.S. (Singapore)

Ph.D (Healthcare Administration)

Copyright Kenneth Kee 2012 Smashwords Edition

Published By Kenneth Kee at Smashwords.com

Dedication

This book is dedicated

to my wife Dorothy

and my children

Carolyn, Grace

and Kelvin

A Simple Guide to Neuralgia and Related Nerve Disorders such as Trigeminal Neuralgia, Sciatica and Herpes Zoster which are seen in some of my patients in my Family Clinic.

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader.

If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Chapter 1

Neuralgia

What is Neuralgia?

Neuralgia is any form of pain