Treatment and symptoms of intercostal neuralgia on the right

Intercostal neuralgia is a pathological process that develops if the nerve is squeezed or irritated. Painful sensations can be painful, violent, with high intensity. Most often they are located in the spine or sternum.

The ailment 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. It is necessary to carefully listen to the signals that the body gives and clearly explain its condition to the doctor.

Symptomatics

Of particular concern to patients is intercostal neuralgia on the right. It manifests itself as strong pains that multiply with exhalation or inhalation, coughing, sneezing. In addition, the pain syndrome developing on the right side increases with palpation of 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 sign of the disease, then it can have different localization. Very often it is felt between the ribs, in the lumbar region, in the area of the scapula. The patient may experience severe attacks, which last for a long time. The main symptoms of intercostal neuralgia on the right are the following:

• Acute pain, which lasts constantly.
• Tingling and burning.
• Periodic pains, similar to cardiac, painful and acute.
• Severe pain when turning, sneezing, coughing. This sign is often characterized by intercostal neuralgia.
• Symptoms to the right are manifested as a loss of sensitivity on this side of the chest.

If the pain is localized on the other hand, there is an additional danger. It is very important, when the intercostal neuralgia develops on the left, to distinguish it from pains in the heart. This will help to understand the presented signs:

• Discomfort in the heart area usually lasts a short time.
• Pain is stopped after taking nitroglycerin.
• Heart pain is given to the shoulder, arm.
• The nature of pain does not change with deep breathing.
• There are irregularities in the rhythm.

If a person suffers from neuralgia, the pain syndrome is always lasting and often does not subside at night, increases with palpation, bends and inclinations. Removing it helps drugs with anesthetic effect and heat application.

When the development of the disease begins to manifest and other symptoms of intercostal neuralgia on the right, which can be classified as follows:

• Increased sweating.
• Redness or pallor of the skin in the area of inflammation.
• Involuntary contraction of muscles in the place of neuralgia.

Causes of the disease

Often, the causes that have served to develop intercostal neuralgia, are inflammatory, degenerative, tumor changes that affect the nervous system. Often peripheral nerve trunks suffer. The main reasons can be identified as follows:

• Injuries, diseases of the ribs and spine.
• Diseases of the intestine and stomach.
• Diabetes.
• Lack of minerals and vitamins.
• Tumors of the thoracic spine.
• High tension or inflammation of the spinal muscles.
• Progressive osteochondrosis.
• Overwork, stress.
• Injury of the thoracic nerves.
• Intoxication with microbial toxins, medications, neurotropic poisons.
• Herpetic lesion of nervous tissue.
• Weak immunity.
• Diseases of blood vessels and heart.
• Injuries to the spine and the vices of its development.
• Hormonal changes and menopause in women.
• Alcoholism.
  

Prerequisites for disease formation

If the body is affected by one or more of the causes, trauma, inflammation or blockage of the nerve root or its trunk is formed over time. Such conditions lead to the fact that the nerve experiences oxygen deficiency (hypoxia), receives an excessive number of impulses. These factors are transformed, which causes pain in intercostal neuralgia.

Features of the female body

A woman is subject to yet another additional risk factor - this is the wearing of tight underwear. Bras with a narrow base and stiff bones squeeze the chest and mechanically block the nerves, causing them to damage. Most often, intercostal neuralgia in women develops against the backdrop of thinness, because they have little subcutaneous fat and nerves are placed close to the skin.

Chicken pox and neuralgia

The above symptoms of intercostal neuralgia on the right can be supplemented with a rather rare manifestation. This is a rash in the back and sternum. It is possible that the development of the disease will occur because of the varicella-zoster virus. It is herpes zoster or herpes zoster. With the appointment of adequate therapy, all the vesicles and crusts pass, but the pain syndrome can stay with the person for months. This type of neuralgia is usually called postherpetic.

Diagnostics

The primary diagnosis is reduced to the making of an anamnesis of the patient. The doctor relies on the visitor's complaints and carefully examines it, 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, electroneurography is performed.
• Thoracic intercostal neuralgia is detected with the help of MRI, CT of the spinal column. This also makes it possible to exclude the presence of hernias and tumors of the vertebral column and adjacent soft tissues.
• X-ray of the organs of the thorax and spine.
• General tests of urine and blood, especially when spreading pain from the thoracic to the lumbar region.
• To exclude an infectious lesion of the nerves, an analysis is performed for the presence of antibodies to herpes viruses.

Only after a full-fledged diagnosis is prescribed appropriate therapy aimed at eliminating such a disease as intercostal neuralgia. Treatment (tablets, physiotherapy) is carried out under the strict supervision of a doctor.

Treatment

A specialist who deals with the treatment of intercostal neuralgia is a neurologist. In exceptional cases, the intervention of a neurosurgeon is required. The principle of therapy is based on the elimination of 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 measures are shown:

• Bed rest for several days. The bed should be firm and even, the mat is fitted with a shield.
• Warming the right side of the chest with dry heat. It can be a warm towel, a compress, a woolen shawl.
• Mustard plasters can be superimposed on the near-vertebral zone.
• Massage effect with warming and anti-inflammatory ointments.
• Taking medications with sedative effect, non-steroidal analgesics.
• It is necessary to exclude alcohol, physical stress, stress, otherwise the pain intensified, inherent in such a disease as intercostal neuralgia, will inevitably increase.

Home treatment should be accompanied by all the recommendations listed above.

Features of drug treatment

With unbearable pain, a novocain 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. An important part of drug therapy is analgesics. Medications help to eliminate pain syndrome and should be taken no more than 4 times a day ("Pentalgin", "Sedalgin").

It is important to eliminate the swelling of the tissues, if it accompanies the disease and enhances the negative state. For this, venotonics, diuretics ("Lasix", "Hypothiazide") are often used.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in the form of injections or suppositories, ointments are appointed in a complex, in combination with muscle relaxants, which relieve spasms and eliminate pathological processes (Atrakury, Tubokurarin, Diclofenac).

Preparations to improve blood circulation warm up the muscles. "Apisatron" is very effective.

Soothing means for neuralgia ("Gelarium", "Deprim") relieve tension after pain attacks and provide a restful sleep.

Rehabilitation

The tactics of follow-up treatment are as follows:

• UFO of the right segment of the thorax, electrophoresis.
• Acupuncture.
• Laser therapy.
• Osteopathy.
• The intake of B-group vitamins in high doses. Vitamins restore the nerve shell, making it more stable.

Within the rehabilitation period, the patient is prescribed ozokerite and paraffin applications on the right side of the chest, massages, mud therapy, baths with hydrogen sulphide and radon, swimming, and exercise therapy.

Operative treatment is carried out in case of detection of volumetric formations, when they squeeze the nerve roots and give the pain syndrome. Traditional therapy is the main, but not the only way to eliminate such a disease as intercostal neuralgia. Treatment with folk remedies can also have a beneficial effect. However, it is recommended to consult a doctor.

Folk remedies

Very often folk recipes are used as additional measures to combat such an unpleasant disease. Presented recipes help to cope with the main lesions of the nervous system, including when the patient has discovered intercostal neuralgia. Treatment (tablets, medical procedures) should be complete. You can not use folk remedies as the basis of therapy.

The most effective recipes

1. To eliminate the disease is recommended to use willow bark. Approximately 15 grams of crushed vegetable raw materials are brewed 250 ml of boiling water. The mixture is cooked for about 20 minutes at minimum heat. Then the broth should cool down, it is filtered and drunk 20 ml four times daily.
2. A few petals of a simple room geranium are laid out on a piece of linen cloth. Compress leaves are applied to the affected side, bandaged and insulated. The pain should subside in two hours. Intensity of procedures - 2-3 times a day.
3. Helps with neuralgia garlic oil. Not more than 25 ml of butter is diluted in 500 ml of cognac or alcohol. The resulting essence should be lubricated forehead and whiskey, which helps to eliminate seizures. The homeopathic effect is realized.
4. Traditional treatment of intercostal neuralgia contains such a recipe: a simple egg boiled hard. In hot form it is applied to the sore spot until it cools completely. When the egg becomes cold, the pain must pass.
5. Equally effective is horseradish. The crushed leaves of the plant are laid out on the right side of the chest and covered with a warm woolen shawl.
6. From one fruit of a black radish juice is squeezed out. In the warm state, it is rubbed along the nerve during the treatment of intercostal neuralgia.
7. It is also recommended to prepare tincture from thyme. The plant well cures pain, which is always accompanied by 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 for 15 drops.

Prevention

To prevent relapse, methods of strengthening the muscles of the back are shown. The patient should avoid hypothermia. A healthy lifestyle and vitamins are needed. The forecast is almost always favorable.

Conclusion

According to neurologists, one of the most insidious pathologies is intercostal neuralgia. Symptoms, to the right or left of the spine arising, cause patients to assume that they are sick with very different ailments. Primary medical recommendations consist in the fact that a person, feeling pain, should not drown her with analgesics, but must consult the appropriate specialist for the benefit of her own health.

If you do not take measures, it is possible to develop complications such as chronic pain in the sternum, oxygen starvation of the nervous tissue, limiting the amplitude of the movement of the trunk and shoulder joints. In the most severe cases, there is a stop of breathing.