Create the right sleeping environment Make sure that your pillows and mattress are comfortable and don't leave you with added pain or stiffness throughout the night or in the morning. Moving bedsheets and blankets so they're not touching your legs and feet can also help with intensified nerve pain.
On the back – Research shows that many people find relief from pain when sleeping on their back. This can relieve pressure on the low back and sciatic nerve. For best results, elevate the knees by placing one or more pillows beneath them. Make sure the neck is also supported with a pillow.
When you lay down, the weight of your body may put pressure on your nerves in ways that it doesn't when you're upright. This is particularly common with sciatica and other chronic pain caused by pinched or compressed nerves.
There are medicines that your doctor can prescribe for nerve pain. They include medicines such as gabapentin or pregabalin. It's best to start these as a low dose, and slowly increase the dose only if you need it. Your doctor will help guide your dosing.
B vitamins are known for their ability to support healthy nervous system function. Vitamins B-1, B-6, and B-12 have been found to be especially beneficial for treating neuropathy. Vitamin B-1, also known as thiamine, helps to reduce pain and inflammation and vitamin B-6 preserves the covering on nerve endings.
Neuropathic pain is sometimes worse at night, disrupting sleep. It can be caused by pain receptors firing spontaneously without any known trigger, or by difficulties with signal processing in the spinal cord that may cause severe pain (allodynia) from a light touch that is normally painless.
If soft tissues are the cause of your nerve compression, massage can ease some of that painful pressure off the nerve. Of course, you might not experience total relief from one massage session, especially if you've had the pain for a long time.
Unfortunately, chronic nerve pain rarely goes away completely. However, a combination of multidisciplinary treatments, such as physical therapy, regular exercise, medication, and pain management treatment can hopefully provide significant relief.
Avoid sleeping on your stomach. This can cause your spine to curve down toward the mattress, which puts extra pressure on muscles and joints. Any pain you feel may be more severe if you have a soft mattress. Sleep on a firmer mattress.
If you experience weakness, tingling, numbness or a total loss of feeling in a limb, see your health care provider to determine the cause. It's important to treat peripheral nerve injuries early.
There are several reasons why nerve pain can be worse at night. The first reason is that when you lie down, the blood flow to your extremities decreases, which can aggravate the nerves and cause pain. Additionally, lying down for an extended period can cause nerve compression and irritation.
Medical experts recommend lying on the unaffected side of your body and placing a pillow between the legs to decrease the tension placed on the irritated nerve. This prevents the top affected leg from dropping toward your midline, which can stress the affected nerve.
So how long does a pinched nerve cause pain and discomfort? In most cases, symptoms improve and nerve function resumes to normal within 6 to 12 weeks of conservative treatment. Conservative treatment options include physical therapy, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen.
As a general rule, a muscle which has been weakened due to nerve compression should not be exercised until there is measurable return of muscle strength and there is minimal pain associated with the nerve injury.
Severe cases may require medical care but for many patients, gentle exercises that target the affected area can help relieve minor nerve pain. These stretches lessen the pressure placed on the nerve and loosen the surrounding muscles.
Water reduces nerve stress, and it can help to relax muscles. That can mean reduced pain, healthier nerves, and faster recovery from nerve damage. Be sure to drink plenty of water alongside your diet to keep your body and nerves hydrated.
Drink lots of water
Water should be a staple in any diet, and even more so for those looking to reduce nerve pain.
Living with nerve pain is not easy. If it has lasted a long time, you may have feelings of hopelessness, sadness, anger or even depression due to the constant pain. You may withdraw from people close to you or stop doing the fun things you used to do.
Trigeminal neuralgia (TN), also known as tic douloureux, is sometimes described as the most excruciating pain known to humanity. The pain typically involves the lower face and jaw, although sometimes it affects the area around the nose and above the eye.
Once this is damaged it is difficult to treat it because of the complexity of the nervous system. Medication in the form of painkillers etc can be used, but in a sense it is like using a sledgehammer to dial a telephone number.
Magnesium decreases nerve pain. Clinical experience, as well as research in nerve pain conditions such as pancreatic cancer, has shown that magnesium can be an effective treatment for pain. Although it is clear why magnesium can decrease muscle pain (it makes muscles relax), why it would help nerve pain was less clear.