Chest Neuralgia

2024 Author: Josephine Shorter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 21:43

Chest neuralgia

Chest neuralgia is a serious, but not dangerous, disease that occurs quite often. However, many people can confuse this ailment with dangerous heart pains that lead to irreversible consequences. Distinguishing dangerous heart disorders from typical intercostal neuralgia is not difficult at all.

If you feel severe pain in the chest, it is recommended to take a good deep breath and then move. With chest neuralgia, the pain will either be less noticeable or intensify. When it does not change its character, we can talk about existing pulse or blood pressure disorders. It should also be remembered that all heart pains are easily relieved by ordinary nitroglycerin.

Chest neuralgia has the main symptom, so-called neuropathic pain, which is caused by problems in the nervous system or some kind of damage. It is she who, in the diagnosis, becomes the key point for the differentiation of neuralgia or heart disease. The behavior of neuropathic pain is fundamentally different from heart pain.

Causes of chest neuralgia

Chest neuralgia is caused by compression or severe irritation of several intercostal nerves. By nature, such pain can be acute or dull, aching or burning, constant or episodic. Often it intensifies even with little activity, which can include coughing or sneezing, a sharp movement of the body, or a simple turn of the body. When palpation of specific parts of the body - along the patient's chest or spine, in the region of the ribs, a person also experiences pain.

Due to the damaged section of the nerve in a certain area of the body, the patient feels a sharp pain. In some patients, the pain increases significantly when inhaling and, of course, when exhaling, and during the attack itself, it is almost impossible to breathe due to unpleasant sensations. In this case, even a slight expansion of the chest responds with sharp pain during inhalation.

The pain arises from pinching the nerves in the space between the ribs. With neuralgia of the chest, severe pain, which is the main symptom of the disease, restricts breathing. Experts have proven that this is directly due to the deformation of the intercostal space. The reasons for this may be hernias, previous infectious diseases or strokes in the chest area.

The intercostal spaces are considered to be the main area of pain localization. But discomfort also occurs in the back, in the lumbar region or under the shoulder blade. this symptom is called "reflected" pain and usually does not indicate the underlying real source of nerve damage. Usually, severe chest pain is often shingles. It is observed along the typical intercostal spaces or in the left or right side of the chest.

Noticeable irritation or severe compression of the intercostal nerves causes a number of other rather unpleasant symptoms. The pain itself with this ailment is often accompanied by twitching or a distinct contraction of certain muscles, intense sweating, and there is also a significant change in skin color - unhealthy pallor or severe redness. With neuralgia of the chest, numbness or, in other words, loss of sensation, manifests itself in the immediate area of damage to a particular nerve.

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The treatment method for this rather unpleasant disease, as a rule, primarily consists in relieving inflammation and pain relief. Chest neuralgia is successfully treated today with a combination of medications, vitamins and special massage. In the case when an infection has become the root cause of chest neuralgia, then it is necessary to choose the optimal treatment for this particular ailment. At the appointment, the doctor, in addition to the examination, collects all information about possible strokes, injuries and infectious diseases of the patient.

If necessary, a chest X-ray is prescribed. A specialist can recommend manual therapy, as well as prescribe the intake of B vitamins. Such vitamins can be prescribed both in tablets and in modern injections. The choice of suitable anti-inflammatory and analgesic drugs is prescribed by the doctor based on the general condition of the person. Long-awaited pain relief for every patient is the primary reason for going to a specific medical institution.

Of no small importance after the treatment of chest neuralgia is proper nutrition, absence of stress and good rest. Do not forget that only a highly qualified specialist can correctly differentiate this serious disease. It is he who, by the nature of certain pain sensations, will be able to exclude ailments of the cardiovascular system. Timely prescribed treatment will prevent the appearance of various complications.

Article author: Mochalov Pavel Alexandrovich | d. m. n. therapist

Education: Moscow Medical Institute. IM Sechenov, specialty - "General Medicine" in 1991, in 1993 "Occupational Diseases", in 1996 "Therapy".