Occipital Neuritis - Types

Types

("Tip Douloureus" /* Types */ is misspelled by someone?)

Tic Douloureux (commonly referred to as trigeminal neuralgia), but it is not directly associated with Occipital Neuritis, or Occipital Neuralgia. Occipital Neuralgia affects the nerves at the base of the skull, where the nerves leave the spine and travel to the sides of the head, and over the top of the head. (The Occipital nerves are between the scalp and the skull.) Diagnosis can be made through injections at the site of the pain; if a person thought to have Occipital Neuralgia gets relief from an injection, the diagnosis is positive.

With trigeminal neuralgia, the fifth cranial nerve is affected (this nerve is inside the skull, and is part of the brain.) The trigeminal nerve is one main nerve, a ganglion with three sections, branching out into the facial areas, (one near the eye area and brow, one in the general vicinity of the cheek and into the side of the nose and lips, and one into the lower jaw and chin area.) It is believed that the trigeminal nerve is irritated through contact with a small artery within the brain. This is a highly painful affliction. Diagnosis is made by symptoms relayed by the patient to their physician, and through a process of elimination of other facial disorders. There are currently several surgical procedures that can be done to try to relieve the pain of trigeminal neuralgia, but none of them are guaranteed to cure the disorder.