User:Mr. Ibrahem/Neuropathic pain

Neuropathic pain (NP) is an unpleasant sensation caused by damage or disease affecting the part of the nervous system involved with touch. Symptoms may include abnormal sensations such as burning, tingling, numbness, pain with normally non-painful stimuli, or increased sensivity to pain. Complications may include tiredness, anxiety, depression, or decreased quality of life.

It is divided into peripheral and central neuropathic pain depending on the part of the nervous system involved. Peripheral causes include diabetic neuropathy, post herpetic neuralgia, HIV/AIDS, cancer pain, and ongoing pain after surgery; while central causes include multiple sclerosis (MS), spinal cord injury, and following a stroke. Diagnosis is based on the description of the pain together with evidence of an underlying cause.

Initial treatment may include duloxetine, gabapentin, or nortriptyline. Lidocaine or capsaicin cream or TENS may be used for a specific area of pain. If these are not effective pregabalin, counseling, or tramadol may be tried. Other options may include spinal cord stimulation. In trigeminal neuralgia, carbamazepine is used. Despite treatment only about half of people get partial relief from pain.

Neuropathic pain affects about 7-10% of people. It represents about 25% of chronic pain cases. It occurs in about 20% of people with MS and up to half of people after spinal cord injury. Early descriptions of the condition date from the 900s CE by the Persian physicians Abu Bakr al-Razi and Haly Abbas; with descriptions in Europe in the 1700s by John Fothergill.