Postherpetic neuralgia is one of the top three human pains, and many people who have experienced it have commented that it "hurts and can even kill people", and this severe pain can seriously affect the normal life and mental state of patients.
What is postherpetic neuralgia?
After the human body is first infected with varicella-zoster virus, the virus can latent in the posterior root neurons of the spinal cord, when the body's resistance is low, the virus can grow and multiply again, and move along the nerve fibers to **, so that the invaded nerves and ** produce intense inflammation and pain, resulting in the onset of herpes zoster, the main symptom is flaky, clustered distribution of red papules or blisters. These pimples and blisters will gradually scab over and fall off over a period of two weeks, but the affected nerve can still leave severe pain that lasts for more than 1 month, which is called postherpetic neuralgia.
Postherpetic neuralgia is mainly burning, pinprick-like, and discharge-like, usually distributed along the path of the infected nerve, with frequent attacks, painful touching, accompanied by **itching, tenderness, and can last for months or even years. Some postherpetic neuralgia is so stubborn that the pain lasts for a long time and is very intense, so it is called the "cancer that never dies".
What can I do about postherpetic neuralgia**?
Postherpetic neuralgia can be extremely distressing to patients and is very much needed in a timely manner**. There are many ways to help patients with this pain to alleviate this pain.
1.Medications**
Commonly used medications include antivirals (e.g., acyclovir), analgesics (e.g., aspirin, ibuprofen, etc.), antidepressants, and antiepileptic drugs (amitriptyline, etc.). Antiviral drugs can reduce inflammation and pain caused by viral infections, analgesics can help relieve pain symptoms, and antidepressants and antiepileptic drugs can act as analgesia and regulate mood.
2.Local**
Topical painkiller creams or patches, such as local anesthetics or topical aspirin, can also be used as pain relief.
3.Physics**
Include physical and acupuncture measures, such as massage, acupuncture, heat or cold, to help relieve nerve pain and discomfort.
4.Nerve blocks
Nerve block is an effective means of relieving various types of chronic pain by injecting low concentrations of local anesthetics, anti-inflammatory drugs, or neurotrophic drugs into the nerve that causes pain, so as to exert anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects.
5.Pulsed radiofrequency neuromodulation
Under the guidance of CT, the radiofrequency thermocoagulation puncture needle is punctured to the dorsal root ganglia of the corresponding spinal nerve in the pain area, and a special radiofrequency electrode is used to transmit high-frequency pulse currents to the nerve or perineural tissues, resulting in an increase in local temperature, thereby blocking the pain conduction of the nerve and reducing pain symptoms. Unlike traditional radiofrequency ablation, pulsed radiofrequency modulation does not cause persistent tissue damage, but rather uses brief high-frequency pulsed currents to alter nerve conduction to reduce pain.
6.Trioxine autoblemia
It is to inject the patient's peripheral venous blood into the blood bag with anticoagulant, and then inject the medical trioxygen-medical oxygen mixture into the blood bag, using the special chemical properties of trioxygen to play the role of anti-inflammatory, anti-infection, analgesic and analgesic, and immune regulation, which is an emerging and very effective pain method.
7.Electrical nerve stimulation
Including peripheral electrical stimulation and spinal cord electrical stimulation, that is, the electrodes are implanted into the peripheral nerve travel area or epidural space, and the weak current stimulation is released through the electrodes to block the transmission of pain signals to the brain through the spinal cord, so as to achieve the purpose of pain control, which is the "ultimate magic weapon" of chronic pain.
8.Psychological**
Neuralgia will have a certain impact on the patient's psychology, and for patients with long-term neuralgia, psychological** can help them relieve anxiety and depression, maintain a good attitude, and better cooperate**.