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Suggest Treatment For Shooting Pain In The Left Side Of The Brain
Question: i have a sharp,shooting pain to the left side of my head. behind my ear but higher up. it happens every once in a while but this am it was verypainful when I turned onto my left side to continue sleeping. it woke me up.
Brief Answer:
Possible occipital neuralgia.
Detailed Answer:
I read your question carefully and I understand your concern.
That type of pain is not indicative of a threatening condition, you should not be alarmed. The most probable cause would be occipital neuralgia, pain due to compression of the occipital nerve in the upper neck, commonly due to arthritis. Medication like Ibuprofen are the first step, if ineffective gabapentin or Pregabalin are commonly used for prevention when pain is frequent affecting quality of life. Physical therapy might also be of help. Local injections of analgesics may be used in cases which do not respond to medication.
Other possibilities would include primary stabbing headache (also called ice pick headache) but that usually switches location or an ear infection, but in that case pain would be more persistent.
I remain at your disposal for other questions.
Possible occipital neuralgia.
Detailed Answer:
I read your question carefully and I understand your concern.
That type of pain is not indicative of a threatening condition, you should not be alarmed. The most probable cause would be occipital neuralgia, pain due to compression of the occipital nerve in the upper neck, commonly due to arthritis. Medication like Ibuprofen are the first step, if ineffective gabapentin or Pregabalin are commonly used for prevention when pain is frequent affecting quality of life. Physical therapy might also be of help. Local injections of analgesics may be used in cases which do not respond to medication.
Other possibilities would include primary stabbing headache (also called ice pick headache) but that usually switches location or an ear infection, but in that case pain would be more persistent.
I remain at your disposal for other questions.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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