Symptoms

Nerve pain is different than the pain of a sprained ankle, infected wound or broken bone. While tissue or bone injury usually heals and stops hurting, nerve pain can begin hours to weeks after nerve damage occurs and can cause continuous pain. Although nerve pain can be acute or chronic, it is usually a problem that does not go away without treatment.

Every person feels nerve pain in a different way. You may have nerve pain that comes and goes, or you may feel it all of the time. You may have one or more of the following symptoms of nerve pain:

• Allodynia – This is the medical term used to describe feeling pain from things that do not normally cause pain. For example, a person with allodynia may feel pain when a feather or cool breeze touches their skin.

• Burning or electric shock-like pain

• Cutting, piercing or stabbing pain

• Hyperalgesia – This is the medical term to describe feeling pain in a more extreme way than normal. For a person with hyperalgesia, a pinprick against the skin may feel like a knife stab.

• Tingling, prickling or numbness

• Loss of feeling – When you touch something, you may not be able to feel if it is hot or cold. Losing your ability to feel may cause you to be unstable when you walk. You may not know how your feet are positioned on the floor because you cannot feel them. If you burn or cut yourself, you may not know because you cannot feel it.