Occipital neuralgia is a medical condition characterized by chronic pain at the top neck, back of the head and behind the eyes. These regions correspond to the areas of the lower and greater occipital nerves. Wrapped round the greater occipital nerve is that the occipital artery, which may bring about the neuralgia. The status is also sometimes characterized by diminished feeling in the affected region.
Signs and symptoms of occipital neuralgia
The main symptom of occipital neuralgia is chronic headache. The pain is often localized at the back and round or on the top of the head, occasionally around the forehead or beneath the eye. Because chronic headaches are a frequent symptom of many conditions, occipital neuralgia can be misdiagnosed initially, many commonly as anxiety headaches or migraines, resulting in unsuccessful treatment efforts. Another symptom is sensitivity to light, particularly when headaches occur.
This pain is generally one-sided, though it can be on either side if both occipital nerves are affected. Occipital neuralgia is characterized by severe pain that begins in the upper neck and back of the head. Moreover, the pain can radiate forwards toward the eye since it follows the route of the occipital nerve(s). People may detect blurry vision because the pain radiates behind or near the eye. The pain is often described as sharp, shooting, zapping, an electrical jolt, or traumatic. The consequences of pain are seldom consistent, but might occur often based on the damage to the nerves. The quantity of time that the pain continues typically varies whenever the symptom seems; it could last a couple of seconds or be nearly constant. Occipital neuralgia may last for hours or for a long time.
Other symptoms of occipital neuralgia may include:
- Aching, burning, and throbbing pain that typically starts at the base of the head and radiates to the scalp
- Pain on one or both sides of the head
- Pain behind the eye
- Sensitivity to light
- Sensitivity to sound
- Slurred speech
- Pain when moving the neck
Occipital neuralgia causes
Occipital neuralgia is caused by injury to the occipital nerves, which may originate from injury (generally concussive), physical strain on the nerve, insistent neck contraction, flexion or extension, or as a consequence of medical complications (for example, osteochondroma, a benign bone tumour). An uncommon cause is that a cerebrospinal fluid leak. Another is radio frequency nerve ablation. At times, occipital neuralgia may be an indication of metastasis of specific cancers into the backbone. One of other cranial neuropathies, Occipital Neuralgia is also known to occur in patients using Multiple sclerosis. Hodgkins along with other cancer survivors who have had radiation therapy to the neck can also develop this, sometimes several years after.
There are several areas that have the potential to cause injury from compression:
- The deep to superficial turn around the inferiolateral border of the obliquus capitis inferiormuscle and its tight investing fascia
- The deep side of semispinalis capitis, where initial piercing can involve entrapment in either the muscle itself or surrounding fascia
- The superficial side of semispinalis capitis, where completion of nerve piercing muscle and its fascia again poses risk
- The deep side of the trapezius as the nerve enters the muscle
- The tendinous insertion of the trapezius at the superior nuchal line
- The neurovascular intertwining of the greater occipital nerve and the occipital artery
Treatment of Occipital neuralgia
There are a vast selection of noninvasive treatments, such as manipulation, physical treatment, rest, heat, anti inflammatory drugs, antidepressants, anti-convulsants, opioid and non-opioid analgesics, and migraine prophylaxis medication. Alternatives include local nerve block, peripheral nerve stimulation, steroids, rhizotomy, phenolshots, and occipital cryoneurolysis. Less commonly, surgical neurolysis or microdecompression are traditionally utilized to deal with the illness when conservative measures fail.
