Occipital neuralgia is a type of headache in which people experience piercing, throbbing or chronic pain in the upper neck, the back of the head and behind the ears. This pain usually begins in the neck before radiating upward and is usually prevalent on one side of the head. While not life threatening, the severity of the pain, which is similar to a migraine, can make accomplishing tasks of daily living more difficult and uncomfortable. For this reason, doctors sometimes prescribe a variety of pain medications.
NSAIDs
The first line of treatment for occipital neuralgia pain management is usually non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, also known as NSAIDs. These are also used to treat milder episodes of occipital neuralgia headaches. Examples of NSAIDs are ibuprofin and aspirin.
Nerve Block
Occipital nerve block is performed by injecting numbing agents, such as lidocaine or bupivacaine, close to the occipital nerve, near the back of the head at the base of the skull. According to HealthCentral.com, the medication is injected on the side of the head where the headache is located, near the base of the skull at the back of the head. Some patients experience better results when the injection is placed between the C2 and/or C3 ganglion nerves, according to a NeurosurgeryToday.org 2006 article on the subject. If the first injection does not completely relieve your pain, a second might be given. A Fort Lauderdale, Florida, doctor, Jonathan Aarons writes on his website fortlauderdalepaindoctor.com that while sometimes one injection will be sufficient, injections are often given in a series. To avoid adverse side effects, no more than three injections will be administered in six-months.
Anticonvulsants
The website neurosurgerytoday.org notes that oral anticonvulsant medications, including carbamazepine and gabapentin, are sometimes used to treat this type of headache pain. If the pains resemble those of tic douloureux, anticonvulsants may be most beneficial, according to the website facial-neuralgia.org.
