What Does Neuropathic Pain Feel Like?

Today's post from pain.about.com (see link below) is a short but useful description of the nature of nerve pain. There's nothing here that the experienced neuropathy patient won't know but sometimes putting your symptoms into words for others is very difficult - they just don't seem to understand - and why should they - nerve pain is pretty much unique and unless they can feel it themsleves, they won't really get what you're going through. This article will help put it into words for them - it's a, 'pass on to your friends and family' article and will help them get an idea of how you're feeling.
 

What Does Nerve Pain Feel Like?
Neuropathic Pain and its Unique Symptoms
By Erica Jacques Chronic Pain Expert Updated July 16, 2014.

Written or reviewed by a board-certified physician. See About.com's Medical Review Board.

Neuropathic pain, also called nerve pain, is one of the many classes of chronic pain. Nerve pain can be caused by nerve damage, irritation or destruction.
How Nerve Pain Feels Most people describe their chronic nerve pain with a similar set of words. Regardless of the cause, nerve pain can feel like any of the following:

Burning
Tingling
Shooting
Sharp
Stabbing
Prickling

Nerve pain may vary in intensity. For some, it can feel like mildly bothersome pins and needles. For others, the pain may be severe and nearly unbearable. Nerve pain may be localized (felt at or near the area of nerve damage) or referred (felt somewhere else in the body).

Nerve Pain Terminology

Because nerve pain is unique, it has some medical buzzwords associated with it. Nerve pain sensations may be described with these buzzwords, which include:

Allodynia: When a person experiences pain after a stimulus that shouldn’t cause pain under ordinary circumstances, it is called allodynia.
Hyperalgesia: If a person has hyperalgesia, mildly painful stimuli may be felt with greater intensity.
Dysesthesia: Dysesthesia describes some sort of impairment in sensation. It can describe pain that is felt when there is no stimulus present at all, also called spontaneous pain.

Other Symptoms Associated With Nerve Pain

Like other types of chronic pain, neuropathic conditions often cause other symptoms in addition to pain. If you have any of the following in addition to the pain described above, you may have nerve damage:

Partial or complete loss of feeling
Muscle weakness
Partial or complete paralysis
Changes in skin appearance and texture
Muscle disuse atrophy
Depression and/or anxiety
More Nerve Pain Information
Definition of Neuropathic Pain
Common Nerve Pain Conditions
What Causes Nerve Pain?

Sources:

National Pain Foundation. Neuropathic Pain: Symptoms. Accessed 2/2/10. http://www.nationalpainfoundation.org/articles/353/symptoms?PHPSESSID=9c14904e64a8ad966628202be1ce5892

The Merck Manuals Online Medical Library. Neuropathic Pain. Accessed 2/2/10. http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec16/ch209/ch209c.html#sec16-ch209-ch209c-278

http://pain.about.com/od/typesofchronicpain/a/neuropathic_pain_symptoms.htm