What Causes Sharp Stabbing Pain In The Temple Region?

Posted on Wed, 25 Jan 2017

Question: For about the last few days, I've had very periodic sharp jabbing pains in my right temple area of my scalp. The pains are very infrequent, last only 5-10 seconds (each) and seem to appear every couple or few hours.
Is this a migraine type issue?? I'm a 56 year old white male if that makes a difference. Thank-You!

Answered by Dr. Dr. Erion Spaho (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
Ice pick headaches and trigeminal neuralgia to consider.

Detailed Answer:
Hello and thanks for using HCM.

I have read your question and understand your concerns.

Since your symptoms last only few seconds, and you describe them as sharp jabbing pain, two conditions need to be considered.

1. Ice pick ( or stabbing ) headaches

2. Trigeminal neuralgia ( less likely than the first one )

Ice pick headaches are a condition that may be meet more in people that suffer from migraines, or cluster headaches and are considered as primary headaches (with no underlying cause).

Melatonin use is found to prevent them.

Trigeminal neuralgia is a condition that is related to pinched trigeminal nerve periodically by artery pulsations inside the skull.

In such cases carbamazepine is used as a first line to treat this condition.

It is necessary to get evaluated by a Neurologist in order to understand better your condition.

Hope you found the answer helpful.

Let me know if I can assist you further.

Kind regards.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad