Overview
Nerve pain is a health condition that is usually severe. It is usually a result of chronic, progressive nerve disease, and it can also occur as the result of injury or infection. It can also be referred to as neuropathic pain.
If you have chronic nerve pain, it can flare up at any time without an obvious pain-inducing event or factor. Acute neuropathic pain, while uncommon, can occur as well.
Typically, non-neuropathic pain (nociceptive pain) is due to an injury or illness. For example, if the heavy object you are carrying drops on your foot, your nervous system sends signals of pain immediately after the object hits.
With neuropathic pain, the pain isn’t typically triggered by an event or injury. Instead, the body just sends pain signals to your brain unprompted.
The pain associated with nerve pain can be some sort of piercing, shooting, and burning pain. The pain may be constant or may occur intermittently. A feeling of numbness or a loss of sensation is common, too.
Nerve pain or Neuropathic pain tends to get worse over time if not treated accordingly.
About 1 in 3 Americans experience chronic pain. Of those, 1 in 5 experience neuropathic pain.
A 2014 study estimated that as many as 10 percent of Americans experience some form of neuropathic pain.
The best approach to treat nerve pain is to identify the cause. This way treatment is given not only to stop the pain but also to heal the underlying condition. It will also help prevent the pain from getting worse.