Intercostal neuralgia is a pathological process that develops if a nerve is compressed or irritated. Pain can be excruciating, strong, with high intensity. Most often they are localized in the spine or sternum.
The disease is often perceived as a sign of other diseases, so it is important to understand what are the main symptoms of intercostal neuralgia on the right and left. You need to carefully listen to the signals that the body gives and clearly explain your condition to the doctor.
Symptomatics
The intercostal neuralgia on the right is of particular concern to patients. It manifests itself as severe pain, which increases many times when exhaling or inhaling, coughing, sneezing. In addition, the pain syndrome that develops on the right side increases with palpation of the intercostal spaces and the spine, especially if the doctor manages to find the places of damage to the nervous tissue.
If you pay attention to pain as the main symptom of the disease, then it can have different localization. Highlyoften it is felt in the spaces between the ribs, in the lumbar region, in the region of the shoulder blades. The patient may experience severe attacks that last for a long time. The main symptoms of intercostal neuralgia on the right are as follows:
- Sharp pain that lasts all the time.
- Tingling and burning.
- Periodical pains similar to heart, excruciating and sharp.
- Severe pain when turning, sneezing, coughing. This sign is most often distinguished by intercostal neuralgia.
- Symptoms on the right are loss of sensation on that side of the chest.
If the pain is localized on the other side, there is an additional danger. It is very important, when intercostal neuralgia develops on the left, to distinguish it from pain in the heart. The following signs will help to understand this:
- Discomfort in the heart area usually lasts a short period of time.
- Pain stops after taking nitroglycerin.
- Heartache radiates to the shoulder, arm.
- Pain does not change with deep breathing.
- There are rhythm disturbances.
If a person suffers from neuralgia, the pain syndrome is always long-lasting and often does not subside at night, aggravated by palpation, turning and bending. Painkillers and heat application help to eliminate it.
With the development of the disease, other symptoms of intercostal neuralgia on the right begin to appear, which can be classified as follows:
- Excessive sweating.
- Redness or paleness of the skin in the area of inflammation.
- Involuntary muscle contraction at the site of neuralgia.
Causes of disease
Often, the causes that served as the development of intercostal neuralgia are inflammatory, degenerative, tumor changes that affect the nervous system. Peripheral nerve trunks are most often affected. The main reasons can be summarized as follows:
- Injuries, diseases of the ribs and spinal column.
- Diseases of the intestines and stomach.
- Diabetes mellitus.
- Lack of minerals and vitamins.
- Tumors of the thoracic spine.
- High tension or inflammation of the back muscles.
- Progressive osteochondrosis.
- Overwork, stress.
- Thoracic nerve injury.
- Intoxication with microbial toxins, drugs, neurotropic poisons.
- Herpetic lesions of the nervous tissue.
- Weak immunity.
- Diseases of blood vessels and heart.
- Injuries of the spine and malformations of its development.
- Hormonal shifts and menopause in women.
-
Alcoholism.
Prerequisites for the formation of the disease
If the body is affected by one or more causes, over time, an injury, an inflammatory process or a blockage of the nerve root or its trunk is formed. Such conditions lead to the fact that the nerve experiences oxygen deficiency (hypoxia), receives an excessive number of impulses. These factorstransform, resulting in pain in intercostal neuralgia.
intercostal neuralgia symptoms on the right Features of the female body
Women are subject to another additional risk factor - wearing tight underwear. Bras with a narrow base and hard underwires compress the chest and mechanically block the nerves, causing damage. Most often, intercostal neuralgia in women develops against the background of thinness, because they have little subcutaneous fat and the nerves are located close to the skin.
Chickenpox virus and neuralgia
The above symptoms of intercostal neuralgia on the right can be supplemented by a rather rare manifestation. These are rashes in the back and sternum. It is possible that the development of the disease will occur due to the chickenpox virus. This is shingles or herpes zoster. With the appointment of adequate therapy, all vesicles and crusts disappear, but the pain syndrome can remain with a person for months. This type of neuralgia is usually called postherpetic.
Diagnosis
Primary diagnosis comes down to taking a patient history. The doctor relies on the visitor's complaints and carefully examines him, probing the affected area. Most often, the diagnosis is made after these manipulations, but in more complex cases, an instrumental examination is performed:
- If there is a suspicion of a nerve injury, an electroneurography is performed.
- Thoracic intercostal neuralgia is detected using MRI, CT scan of the spinal column. This also makes it possible to excludethe presence of hernias and tumors of the spine itself and adjacent soft tissues.
- X-ray of the chest and spine.
- General urine and blood tests, especially when pain spreads from the chest to the lumbar.
- To exclude an infectious lesion of the nerves, an analysis is carried out for the presence of antibodies to herpes viruses.
Only after a full diagnosis, appropriate therapy is prescribed, aimed at eliminating such a disease as intercostal neuralgia. Treatment (pills, physiotherapy) is carried out under the strict supervision of a physician.
intercostal neuralgia treatment with folk remedies Treatment
A specialist who treats intercostal neuralgia is a neurologist. In exceptional cases, the intervention of a neurosurgeon is required. The principle of therapy is based on eliminating the causes of the disease, which led to pinching and inflammation of the nerve.
During the period when the patient experiences acute pain, the following activities are indicated:
- Bed rest for a few days. The bed should be firm and even, with a shield placed under the mattress.
- Warming the right side of the chest with dry heat. It can be a warm towel, a compress, a woolen scarf.
- Mustard plasters may be applied to the paravertebral zone.
- Massage effect with warming and anti-inflammatory ointments.
- Taking drugs with a sedative effect, non-steroidal analgesics.
- It is necessary to exclude alcohol, physical activity, stress, otherwise the pain will inevitably increase,inherent in such a disease as intercostal neuralgia.
Home treatment should be accompanied by all the recommendations above.
Features of drug treatment
With unbearable pain, novocaine blockade can be used. In addition, when the disease takes a chronic form, doctors prescribe medications that erase pain memory, which include some antiepileptic drugs and antidepressants. A significant part of drug therapy is analgesics. Medications help eliminate pain and should be taken no more than 4 times a day (Pentalgin, Sedalgin).
It is important to eliminate the swelling of tissues if it accompanies the disease and enhances the negative state. For this, venotonics, diuretics (Lasix, Hypothiazid) are often used.
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in the form of injections or suppositories, ointments are prescribed in combination, in combination with muscle relaxants that relieve spasms and eliminate pathological processes (Atracurium, Tubocurarine, Diclofenac).
Drugs to improve blood circulation warm up the muscles. Apizatron is very effective.
Sedatives for neuralgia ("Gelarium", "Deprim") will relieve stress after pain attacks and provide a restful sleep.
intercostal neuralgia home treatment Rehab
The tactics of subsequent treatment consists of the following activities:
- UVI of the right segment of the chest, electrophoresis.
- Acupuncture.
- Laser therapy.
- Osteopathy.
- High doses of B vitamins. Vitamins restore the nerve sheath, making it more stable.
As part of the rehabilitation period, the patient is prescribed applications of ozocerite and paraffin on the right side of the chest, massages, mud therapy, baths with hydrogen sulfide and radon, swimming, exercise therapy.
Surgical treatment is carried out in case of detection of volumetric formations, when they compress the nerve roots and give pain. Traditional therapy is the main, but not the only way to eliminate a disease such as intercostal neuralgia. Treatment with folk remedies can also have a beneficial effect. However, it is recommended to consult a doctor.
intercostal neuralgia in women Folk remedies
Very often, folk recipes are used as additional measures to combat such an unpleasant disease. The presented recipes help to cope with the main lesions of the nervous system, including when a patient has intercostal neuralgia. Treatment (pills, medical procedures) should be complete. You can not use folk remedies as the basis of therapy.
The most effective recipes
- To eliminate the disease, it is recommended to use willow bark. Approximately 15 grams of crushed vegetable raw materials are brewed with 250 ml of boiling water. The mixture is boiled for about 20 minutes on minimum heat. Then the broth should cool, it is filtered and drunk 20 ml four times daily.
- A few petals of a simple indoor geranium are laid out on a piece of linen. A compress with leaves is applied to the affected side, bandaged and insulated. The pain should subside after two hours. The intensity of the procedures is 2-3 times a day.
- Garlic oil helps eliminate neuralgia. Not more than 25 ml of oil is diluted in 500 ml of cognac or alcohol. The resulting essence should be lubricated on the forehead and temples, which helps to eliminate seizures. The homeopathic effect is realized.
- Folk treatment of intercostal neuralgia contains the following recipe: a simple hard-boiled egg. When hot, it is applied to the sore spot until it cools completely. When the egg becomes cold, the pain should go away.
- Fuck can be just as effective. The crushed leaves of the plant are laid out on the right side of the chest and covered with a warm woolen scarf.
- Juice is squeezed out of one black radish. When warm, it is rubbed along the nerve in the treatment of intercostal neuralgia.
- It is also recommended to prepare thyme tincture. The plant well relieves the pain that always accompanies intercostal neuralgia. Treatment with folk remedies involves the use of the following recipe: ten grams of the plant component is poured into 100 ml of alcohol. The mixture is infused for 24 hours, filtered and taken three times a day, 15 drops each.
pain in intercostal neuralgia
Prevention
For the prevention of relapse, methods of strengthening the back muscles are shown. The patient should avoidhypothermia. A he althy lifestyle and vitamin intake are essential. The prognosis is almost always favorable.
Conclusion
According to neurologists, one of the most insidious pathologies is intercostal neuralgia. Symptoms, arising to the right or left of the spine, make patients assume that they are sick with completely different ailments. Primary medical recommendations are that a person, feeling pain, should not drown it out with analgesics, but should contact the appropriate specialist for the benefit of their own he alth.
If you do not take action, complications such as chronic pain in the sternum, oxygen starvation of the nervous tissue, limitation of the range of motion of the trunk and shoulder joints may develop. In the most severe cases, breathing stops.
