Our nerves play a huge role in our lives. It helps with us detect pain, pleasure, and other types of sensations. However, constant irritations of the nerve can cause significant pain and problem in our lives. This is why it’s imperative to see a doctor when you experience severe pain and agony from your nerves. There are a variety of causes to nerve pain, and it’s essential to find the underlying cause to obtain the proper treatment.

If you are curious as to the most common and popular causes of nerve pain, then you are in luck. We have listed all the common causes of nerve pain so you will get an idea of what to expect when you visit your doctor.

Diabetes

Diabetes involves the issue of high blood glucose and low insulin functions in our body. When this happens, we will experience high blood sugar and potential weight gain. If diabetes is left untreated for an extended period of time, the glucose, or sugar level can damage or irritate nearby nerves. This can result in diabetic neuropathy where you will experience abnormal sensations of pain, numbness, tingling, or other abnormalities from the damaged nerve. The doctor can diagnose this by checking your blood and performing specific physical examinations. If diabetic neuropathy is diagnosed, then your doctor will need to prescribe you gabapentin and other medications to better improve your diabetes.

Compression

Nerve compression often occurs in the spinal cord. If you experience back pain and numbing or tingling sensation that shoots down from your back to your thighs and legs, then there is a big chance that you have nerve compression. Nerve compression can occur in a variety of ways. It could be due to spinal stenosis where the vertebral canal between your spinal cords have become very narrow to the point where it rubs or irritates the spinal nerves that pass through it. When that happens, you will experience a shooting pain. Another issue would be a disc herniation where the nucleus pulposus, which is a gel-like cushion between the vertebral canal in the spinal cord herniates outward, therefore, compressing nearby nerves resulting in severe radiating pain. Usually, a doctor can diagnose this with an MRI, and they can initiate the proper treatment like a corticosteroid injection to reduce the inflammation and irritation on the nearby nerves.

Shingles

Shingles are basically the manifestation of the herpes zoster virus. These viruses often occur in childhood but remain dormant throughout our whole lives. When we get older, our immune system gets weakened, so these viruses often get out of their dormant state and start causing symptoms such as rashes and nerve pain. The virus can irritate and damage nearby nerves resulting in burning, numbing, tingling, and other abnormal sensation. In order to get rid of the shingles, the doctor will have to prescribe you acyclovir medication. Once you take the medication and plenty of vitamin C to strengthen your immune system, the rash and pain will go away on its own.

Other treatment options

There are various treatment options for nerve pain. However, the first step to take is to see the doctor for a lab test and physical examination to find the underlying cause. Whatever the cause is, the doctor will initiate the proper medication to treat it. However, if your nerve pain does not have any cause or etiology, then you can try some alternative treatment. A lot of patients have experienced phenomenal results through acupuncture, tai chi, yoga, and physical therapy. There are also supplements from neuropathycure.org that can help reduce the symptoms of neuropathic pain. Nerve pain can be very difficult and challenging, but with the right treatment regime, it can be managed successfully.

Nerve pain can be a nightmare for a lot of people. This is mainly because there is no way to scratch it or stop the pain. If it gets to the point where it negatively affects your life, then it’s time to see the doctor to find the underlying cause. The most common cause of nerve pain is diabetes, compression, and shingles. For diabetes, better management of blood sugar level and gabapentin can alleviate the nerve pain. With nerve compression, the doctor will provide corticosteroid injections to reduce inflammation and irritation. As for shingles, Acyclovir can make a big difference in your life. If your nerve pain has no specific cause, you can try some alternative treatments like supplements, acupuncture, physical therapy, yoga, and tai chi. With all these tips and tricks listed above, you will never have to lose the fight against nerve pain again.