SHOOTING HEADACHE

SHOOTING HEADACHE

When a person suffers from shooting pains in the head (in medicine the condition is described as Kranialgia), he is not able to concentrate normally on work, or simply to fully rest. At least once, a similar feeling bothered all people.

Pain manifests on the left or right, depending on the cause, which provoked discomfort. New episodes of lumbago sometimes arise after a simple head movement, and the intensity is always different.

Pathology development

For shooting pains in the head, a special mechanism of development is characteristic, although they do not refer to independent diseases. Simply put, this is a severe symptom that indicates the presence of a disease in the human nervous system (pathological pulsation of the fibers).

Shooting pain, in almost all cases occurs with a clear localization. Pain can manifest itself multitudinously, and locally. Considering in which area of ​​the head the pathological nerve is located, the doctor can determine the very location of the focus and its depth.

Etiological factors

The general reasons for which cranialgia manifests itself are distinguished by the peculiarities of the course:

Pathologies in the structures of higher processes of the occipital nerves

Shoots usually after squeezing the spinal nerves. It hurts, as a rule, on the one hand in the back of the head, with the transition to the temple and further to the forehead. The main causative manifestations of this type of cranialgia are the diseases of the ridge:

Osteochondrosis of the neck.
Hernia between the vertebrae.
Protrusion discs.
Spondylosis.

The defeat of peripheral nerve structures

Patients feel a sense of pain in the place of passage of the affected nerve (one-sidedly), which is characterized by a sharp attack lasting from a couple of seconds to an hour. This state is especially often manifested during:

Neuritis of the trigeminal nerve.
Neuralgia of posttraumatic nature.
Toxic polyneuropathy.
Neuralgia of the glossopharyngeal nerve processes.

Diseases of the organs of sight, hearing and smell

Soreness develops after inflammation or infection of certain nerve fibers, which indicates the presence of pathology of various forms of flow:

Otitis with a purulent complication.
Sinusitis.
Sinusitis.
Inflammation of the eye socket, in which there is a purulent complication with the transition of the process to the nearby neural processes.

Pathologies that develop near the places of accumulation of nerve branchings

Aneurysms.
Tumors in the head, which include hematomas, abscesses, cysts, cancer.
Osteomyelitis of the jaw joint or facial bones.

Location of the locus of pain

Often, shooting pain in the head appears on one side, but given the finding of the affected nerve, it can begin in any area. By intensity and localization, cranialgia is divided into the following varieties:

Frontal cranialgia - often has a right-sided disposition and appears due to pathology in the processes of the facial or trigeminal nerve. The impetus to the formation of such problems can serve as a long stay in the cold, which provoked the hypothermia of the whole organism. Pain pulses appear unexpectedly or after squeezing the zone located above the right eyebrow

Lumbago in temples - because of a large number of bundles of nerve endings located in this region, lumbago can develop for various reasons. The main pathologies of the temporal arteries, jaw joint or trigeminal nerve are considered. Attacks of pain are characteristic for both sides, but on the left they are registered much less often. Cranialgia is unexpected, often occurs with a slight pressure on the location of the nerve or during chewing, while it does not have a relationship with hypothermia. Sometimes, forced squeezing of pain points leads to relief.

The dark zone is the point of passage of a large number of nerve fibers, due to which, shooting pains have an uncertain character: an unexpected appearance with instantaneous abating after the onset, or overgrowing in prolonged seizures, with repetitive pulses of pain. A typical cause of pain in the head is any pathology in the neck.

The nape - develops due to pathological changes in the nerves or injuries of the cervical vertebrae. Often appears due to hypothermia or sleep in an atypical posture. Pain becomes unbearable, aggravated by movements of the head, radiating behind the ear, back of the neck, neck and shoulders.

Facial pains - disturb in all parts of the face except for the forehead due to inflammation of the trigeminal nerve. In some cases, the attack causes numbness of the areas of innervation of the affected nerve.

Internal cranialgia is one of the most severe symptoms, which indicates impressive inflammation affecting the eyes and ear nerves.
Shooting pain, regardless of their location, is only a warning signal that the body has an inflammatory process, and the patient should take urgent measures to eliminate them.

Diagnostic measures

Shooting pain, which occurs extremely rarely, is unlikely to force the patient to consult a doctor. To determine the exact cause of abnormalities and to be examined, it is necessary that unpleasant sensations acquire a permanent character, and interfere with the normal vital activity of a person. After the initial examination and consultation with a specialist, the patient will need to undergo the following procedures:

• Inspection of the otolaryngologist and some neurological tests. The doctor should tell what factors cause shooting pain, what they have for a long time and when they stop. It is important to remember the exact frequency of seizures. If the etiology is hidden behind a common disease of osteochondrosis, then its definition and treatment should be handled by a specialist vertebrologist.
• MRI and CT of the brain.
• Angiography of vessels using special contrast agents.
• Radiography of the cervical spine.
• The patient must undergo a full range of diagnostic procedures so that the doctor receives the maximum information, and was able to pinpoint the cause of the shooting pains.

First aid

Cranialgia should be treated in any case. But if the attack began spontaneously, the patient should know how to help themselves at home.

• Warm compress - it is best to use dry heat, especially if the cause of the pain is associated with an inflamed nerve of the ear or neck, as well as with various neuritis and neuralgia.
• Anesthetics - drugs are indicated for pain symptoms that appear for the first time or shooting pains of moderate severity. Doctors advise to use those drugs that block the trigger points: Novocaine, Lidocaine.
• Aspirin - these pills are found in every home medicine cabinet, for their pronounced anti-inflammatory properties. To stop the intense pain syndrome, one tablet should suffice.
• Rinse throat - when the etiology of seizures is associated with infection in the respiratory system, you need to gargle with a decoction of the bark of oak, sage or calendula.
• Warming ointments - painful areas are treated with certain ointments with the effect of removing inflammation and wrapping the place with a warm kerchief.
• If the head shoots because of otitis, you need to drip vasoconstrictive drops for the nose, due to which you can remove swelling, and improve the overall condition.
  Inhalations with medicinal herbs.
• Point massage can be effective in mild pain syndrome.

Treatment

If a person often complains of shooting pains in the head, feels unbearable pulsations, which are accompanied by hyperthermia of the body and vomiting, he should visit a specialist of a neuropathologist.

Cranialgia is a severe symptom, and its treatment is selected depending on the cause, that is, the underlying disease. Treatment in many cases is complex, and consists of such activities:

• Physiotherapeutic procedures - UHF, Electrophoresis, Ionophoresis, Magnetotherapy are actively used for the treatment of neurological diseases. •Good results on pain relief are influenced by current, which also returns the norm of the vascular walls.
• Treatment with drugs from the group of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and analgesics, whose effect is directed to blocking the production of enzymes that contribute to the emergence of a focus of inflammation.
• Local injections with anesthetics are used at high rates of intracranial pressure. Anesthetics can have a direct effect on the cause and prevent the pain from radiating.
• Vitamins from group B, have a positive effect on the human nervous system, with a parallel anti-stress effect on the entire body as a whole.
• Water massage - can remove muscle spasms, ease the pain in the spine and improve blood circulation.
• With chronic course of the disease and frequent manifestations of shooting pain, certain medications are prescribed.
• LFK - effective treatment of osteochondrosis.

Eliminate the unpleasant symptom in the form of shooting pain in a short time, perhaps only at an early stage of the pathology. The chronic form of cranialgia is treated very long and carefully. Considering this, it is necessary to turn in time to the doctor to the neurologist, at the appearance of the first signs, and not wait for their aggravation. Not completely recovered disease can cause progression and aggravation of the general condition, which often ends in disability.