One of the worst things about fibromyalgia, in addition to chronic pain and fatigue, has to be the way in which people suffering from fibromyalgia are at risk for many other diseases, such as autoimmune diseases and headaches, especially the chronic ones.
It is estimated that up to forty percent of people with fibromyalgia have migraines or some other form of persistent headache. But, like fibromyalgia, it is difficult to get to the bottom of what is causing your headaches. And, like fibromyalgia, migraines are often misdiagnosed. In fact, some people suffering from persistent headaches do not actually suffer from migraine but from a related condition called occipital neuralgia. So what is occipital neuralgia? How is this related to fibromyalgia? And what can you do to treat it?
What is occipital neuralgia?
Occipital neuralgia is a condition that causes chronic pain at the base of the skull. People usually describe this as an electric shock or even similar to being stabbed in the muscle. The pain usually radiates from the back of the head to the neck and to the sides of the head or behind the eye.
The root of the condition is found in the occipital nerves. These are nerves that go from the back of the neck and the spine up the sides of the head to the scalp. But sometimes, injuries or inflammation of the spinal muscles cause the tissue to start pressing on those nerves. This leads to a condition called neuralgia, in which the nerves begin to send pain signals to the brain.
This causes the symptoms that are similar to migraines, which makes it difficult to diagnose the disease. Doctors can diagnose the disease by performing a physical examination by pressing the finger at the base of the skull to see if the pain worsens. In addition, it can also be given something called a nerve block, which the interaction between the nerves outside, which may help prove that it is neuralgia instead of migraines.
But there are many different conditions that can lead to neuropathy, and that is why it can affect people with fibromyalgia more often than the general population.
How is this related to fibromyalgia?
Fibromyalgia puts you at risk for several different conditions and some of them are also contributing factors to neuralgia. For example, diabetes is a common complaint of people with fibromyalgia. And diabetes nerve pain can contribute significantly to the risk of developing occipital neuralgia.
In addition, we know that having fibromyalgia increases the likelihood of you developing autoimmune diseases. An autoimmune condition is one in which the body’s immune system begins to attack the body’s own tissue. This produces painful inflammation throughout the body. And a common autoimmune condition is something called arteritis. Arteritis causes inflammation in the walls of blood vessels. This inflammation may press the occipital nerves and may be the cause of neuralgia.
And fibromyalgia also seems to affect the nerves. Fibromyalgia seems to activate the nerves to send pain signals to the brain. And it may be that the same nerve connections may contribute to the symptoms of occipital neuralgia.
So there are several possible reasons why fibromyalgia can contribute to the disease, but what you will probably want to know if you suffer is what can be done to treat it.
How can you treat it?
There are a few things you can do to provide immediate relief. The best thing you can do is get some rest. Moving the neck can make the pain worse. Instead, wrap and apply a warm compress to the back of the neck. And massaging the neck muscles can help as well as the basic painkillers without a prescription.
Your doctor may also prescribe a number of medications that may help with the symptoms. Your doctor may prescribe muscle relaxers to help relieve the very tense muscles that press on the nerves. And they can also prescribe steroid injections that help reduce tissue inflammation.
In addition, your doctor may administer regular injections of nerve blocks. These nerve blocks tend to disappear after a week or two, so you may need a number of treatments to help control your symptoms.
In combination with warm compresses and resting, these medications are usually sufficient to help resolve the worst symptoms of the disease.
So, do you suffer from neuralgia? Do you think this is related to your fibromyalgia? Let us know in the comments.
