History
The earliest cited instance of the term is the French, névralgie, which, according to Rowland, was coined by François Chaussier in his 1801 Table Synoptique de la Névralgie, for "an affection of one or more nerves causing pain which is usually of an intermittent but frequently intense character". The features and assumed etiology found in the medical literature have varied significantly over time.
Various locations were proposed for the primary lesion during the nineteenth century, including nerve roots, ganglia, trunks and branches, as well as the brain and spinal cord. In 1828, JC Warren and TJ Graham placed the cause in the trunk or branch of the nerve innervating the perceived site of the pain, though Graham also attributed neuralgia to "morbid sensibility of the nervous system" due to "great disorder of the general health." Teale in 1830 and many after him argued that it may be located in the spinal cord or nerve root. Later in the century some proposed it may be an affliction of organs such as the uterus or liver, while others classed certain headaches as neuralgias, and proposed that emotional distress may promote the condition.
Read more about this topic: Neuralgia
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