Neuralgia
bouts, but can be extreme, and can likely be felt shooting along the affected nerve.
Types and causes
Certain types of neuralgia are features of a disorder or problem. Migraine sufferers frequently experience attacks of extreme, radiating pain around the eyes. Postherpetic neuralgia is a burning pain that can recur at the site of an attack of herpes zoster also known as shingles for months or even years after the illness.
Other forms of neuralgia arise from disturbance of a certain nerve. In glossopharyngeal neuralgia, extreme pain is experienced at the back of the tongue and in the ear and throat, all of which are areas supplied by the same glossopharyngeal nerve. The cause of this is not known. The same is true of trigeminal neuralgia, a extreme paroxysm of pain afflicting one side of the face supplied by the trigeminal nerve.
Treatment
Neuralgia can be alleviated by analgesic drugs or painkillers, such as paracetamol. Glossopharyngeal, trigeminal, and post herpetic neuralgia can respond to treatment with anticonvulsant drugs or other tricyclic antidepressant drugs.