Neuralgia

Pain caused by irritation of, or damage to, a nerve. The pain usually occurs in brief bouts and may be severe. Some types of neuralgia are features of a specific disorder. Migraine sufferers commonly experience a form of neuralgia consisting of attacks of intense, radiating pain around the eye. Postherpetic neuralgia is a burning pain that may recur at the site of an attack of herpes zoster (shingles) for months or even years after the illness. Other types of neuralgia result from disturbance of a particular nerve. In glossopharyngeal neuralgia, intense pain is felt at the back of the tongue and in the throat and ear, all of which are areas supplied by the glossopharyngeal nerve. The cause of the pain is generally unknown. The same is true of trigeminal neuralgia, a severe paroxysm of pain affecting one side of the face supplied by the trigeminal nerve. Neuralgia is sometimes relieved by analgesic drugs (painkillers) such as paracetamol. Glossopharyngeal, trigeminal, and postherpetic neuralgia may respond to treatment with carbamazepine or other anticonvulsant drugs, or to tricyclic antidepressant drugs.