ChrisL
Diamond Member
I have hospital appointment today, for brain scan, for two weeks I have had pain in head. So, I must go to this appointment now.
Mr. Lucy says this might be first, as to have brain scan, you need a brain....yes, I spanked him for this comment![]()
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Where exactly is this pain?
Rear, side, front?
Is it throbbing?
Migraine...Feels like a white hot knife is trying to stab it's way out of your skull.
It is like jabbing but at times very piercing jolts of pain, it's not 24/7, but it is every day for two weeks. Also I have had to sleep on my back, because if even slight pressure on sides of head starts the pains.
They tell me some special type of trapped nerves, that I can't remember official name for.
Occipital neuralgia?
No they say that the trapped, or they call it a pinched nerve, is in my neck and not the brain. But this is cause of the headaches, also the pain in neck and it is in shoulder. The headaches feel like bad migraine, but I knew it wasn't this already as I was given migraine pills and they had no effect at all.
Yup.
What is occipital neuralgia?
Most of the feeling in the back and top of the head is transmitted to the brain by the two greater occipital nerves. There is one nerve on each side of the head. Emerging from between bones of the spine in the upper neck, the two occipital nerves make their way through muscles at the back of the head and into the scalp. They sometimes reach nearly as far forward as the forehead, but do not cover the face or the area near the ears; other nerves supply these regions.
Irritation of one these nerves anywhere along their course can cause a shooting, zapping, electric, or tingling pain very similar to that of trigeminal neuralgia, only with symptoms located on one side of the scalp rather than in the face. Sometimes the pain can also seem to shoot forward (“radiate”) toward one eye. In some patients the scalp becomes extremely sensitive to even the lightest touch, making washing the hair or lying on a pillow nearly impossible. In other patients there may be numbness in the affected area. The region where the nerves enter the scalp may be extremely tender.
What causes occipital neuralgia?
Occipital Neuralgia may occur spontaneously, or as the result of a pinched nerve root in the neck (from arthritis, for example), or as the result of prior injury or surgery to the scalp or skull. Sometimes “tight” muscles at the back of the head can entrap the nerves.