Nerve pain or neuropathic pain is caused by nerve damage or nerve disease. The pain is often aching, burning or shooting in nature.
- Drugs can be used to treat neuropathic pain. There are 3 types of drugs:
Anti-depressants eg. amitriptyline, which were developed to treat depression, have long been used “off licence” to treat nerve pain. - Anti-convulsants or anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) such as carbamazepine, developed to control fits in epilepsy have long been used to treat nerve pain. Newer anticonvulsants such as gabapentin and pregabalin are licensed in the UK for the treatment of neuropathic pain.
- Opioids such as tramadol are sometimes useful in some people for nerve pain.
These drugs are available on prescription and may have side-effects. Nerve pain is difficult to treat and the best result is often only 50% pain reduction. Patience is needed in trying out various drug combinations to get the best pain reduction and least side effects. These drugs often need to be taken for several years.
