If you experience any unpleasant sensations in your head, you should not self-medicate. After all, you are unlikely to be able to determine the cause of the pain. It can begin due to a fall or, conversely, increased pressure, neuralgia, become a consequence of an injury or a violation of cerebral circulation. It is worth paying special attention to the state of your health if there is a shooting pain in the head.
Causes of the problem
Most often, patients who have complained to the doctor about severe discomfort in the occipital, temporal, frontal or parietal region, which occur suddenly, neurogenic problems are found. Among the causes of the sensation, as if shooting in the head, the following are most often called.
- The defeat of peripheral sensory endings. The most common problems are trigeminal, glossopharyngeal nerves. Also, toxic alcoholic polyneuropathy, tunnel syndromes of 5 and 9 pairs of cranial nerve endings are referred to this group of causes.
- Problems with the vegetative ganglia. These causes are caused by neuralgia of the pterygo-palatine node or the intermediate nerve.
- Otolaryngology. Problems with the organs of smell and hearing cause feelings that shoots in the head. The cause of such pain is purulent otitis, as a result of which the pyramid of the temporal bone, purulent mastoiditis, sinusitis in the acute phase are affected.
- Ophthalmology. Pain occurs with purulent inflammatory processes in the orbits, in which nerve endings are affected.
- Problems with the osteoarticular apparatus. Lumbago sensations appear with arthritis and osteomyelitis in the temporomandibular regions.
This is not a complete list of the causes of the problem. In more rare cases, lumbago occurs due to osteochondrosis of the spine, tumors, cysts or abscesses in some part of the brain, arterial aneurysm.
Pain localization
When visiting a doctor, some patients cannot even describe exactly where the discomfort occurs. They can only indicate the problem part of the head. It should be noted that in medical practice there are no cases of description of bilateral shooting. As a rule, shooting pain in the head occurs in certain places.
- Frontal lobe. Most often, patients point to the right side of the face above the superciliary arch.
- Temporal pain. It is on this site that a large number of nerve endings and pain receptors are concentrated.
- Parietal localization. Many nerve trunks branch out in the region of the little head - this is the cause of the appearance of pain in this part of the head.
- Occipital region. Lumbago in this place occurs in most cases after a sharp turn of the head, in some patients it is possible to identify clear areas, when you touch them there is a sudden pain.
Backache in the ears and the area around them
Considering that one of the possible causes of pain is an ear, nose, or lymph node inflammation, you may need to consult an ENT doctor to make a diagnosis. Only this specialist can determine if you have otitis media, sinusitis or sinusitis. After all, these diseases lead to the fact that a person feels like shooting in the head behind the ear.
In most cases, if the cause of the pain is any of the listed diseases, it means that it passes with the formation of pus, which irritates the nerve endings and causes sharp unpleasant sensations. Such ailments require antibiotic therapy, in some cases physiotherapeutic procedures are prescribed. If you feel that it shoots in the head behind the ear, then you need to see a doctor as soon as possible so as not to worsen your condition. Although in most cases purulent diseases are accompanied by fever, worsening of general well-being and constant pain, it is therefore difficult to miss such a disease.
Diagnostics
If unpleasant sharp sensations arise infrequently, end quickly enough and are periodic, then in most cases people do not see a reason to consult a doctor. However, do not let the disease drift or try to self-medicate when shooting in the head. What to do in this case should be decided only by a competent specialist. First of all, it is necessary to visit the ENT specialist (to exclude sinusitis, sinusitis, otitis media and other similar problems) and a neurologist. Only a comprehensive examination will allow us to conclude about the cause of pain.
At the same time, you should not refuse to diagnose, because the problem can be eliminated only if the cause of its occurrence is accurately determined. It is also important to know that the doctor cannot make the correct diagnosis if the patient simply tells him that he is shooting in the head on the right or left. For diagnosis, it is important to know the frequency of these pains, their duration, factors provoking their onset, and other features.
Treatment
No specialist can prescribe treatment without a preliminary examination. To begin with, possible otolaryngological problems should be excluded and a neurologist should be examined. If he shoots in the head due to inflammation of the nerve endings, then the patient will be prescribed thermal, physiotherapeutic or water procedures, massage of pain points, drug treatment. The last item includes the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, vitamins belonging to group B, blockade of pain points with anesthetics.
Procedures
If the patient complains that he shoots in the head, then doctors advise using heat. In a hospital setting, paraffin may be applied to the problem area, compresses with dimexide, semi-alcohol lotions. In addition, physiotherapeutic procedures are often prescribed: electrophoresis, laser therapy, UHF, iontophoresis, magnetic exposure, galvanic current. The greatest effect from them is observed in those cases when a particular nerve was blown up in a draft. In some situations with superficial neuralgia, it is recommended to do a light massage of pain points.
For patients treated at home, dry heat is recommended. It can be an ordinary woolen shawl, which wraps the problem area. It is important to ensure that this place does not become cold in the future.
Drug therapy
If the doctor has determined that neuralgia is the cause of backache in the head, then, in addition to the procedures, a number of drugs will be prescribed. Conventional medicines include anticonvulsants and painkillers. For example, if a patient complains that he often shoots in the head, then drugs such as Ketanov, Indomethacin, and Dexalgin may be prescribed. In the case of persistent pain, blockades are carried out using solutions with Lidocaine, Bupivacaine, Novocaine. Injection points are located behind the ear, near the superciliary, or in the jaw area.
Vitamins belonging to group B help strengthen the effect of therapy. Thus, the following drugs can be prescribed to patients: Neurobeks, Cyanocobalamin, Thiamine, Milgama, Pyridoxine.
Treatment effectiveness
Not noticing a positive result from therapy in the very first days, patients are disappointed in both the doctor and the treatment methods prescribed by him. However, at the same time, many do not want to think that chronic problems cannot be eliminated in 2-3 days. Their treatment should be comprehensive and long enough. But if you go to the doctor in the very first days of the appearance of unpleasant sensations, when the acute stage of the inflammatory process in the nerve endings is still ongoing, the effect of therapy will be noticeable almost immediately. In addition, getting rid of the problem with early treatment will be much easier, and treatment will take much less time.