Reviewed By:
Unnati Patel, MD, MSc (Family Medicine)
Dr.Patel serves as Center Medical Director and a Primary Care Physician at Oak Street Health in Arizona. She graduated from the Zhejiang University School of Medicine prior to working in clinical research focused on preventive medicine at the University of Illinois and the University of Nevada. Dr. Patel earned her MSc in Global Health from Georgetown University, during which she worked with the WHO in Sierra Leone and Save the Children in Washington, D.C. She went on to complete her Family Medicine residency in Chicago at Norwegian American Hospital before completing a fellowship in Leadership in Value-based Care in conjunction with the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management, where she earned her MBA. Dr. Patel’s interests include health tech and teaching medical students and she currently serves as Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Arizona School of Medicine.
Kenji Igarashi, MD (Anesthesiology)
Dr. Igarashi graduated from the University of Tokyo, Faculty of Medicine. He completed his residency at the Tokyo Metropolitan Geriatric Hospital and Institute of Gerontology and joined Ubie in October 2017. At Ubie, he designs medical data and supports the pharmaceutical team. He also works regularly as an anesthesiologist and internist.
Hiroshi Otake, MD (Anesthesiology)
A 20+years experienced board-certified Anesthesiologist/Critical Care Physician. | An expert in clinical implementation for digital health and machine learning with multi-national clinical experiences in Japan, US and Australia. | Graduated from Master of Science in Clinical Informatics Management at Stanford University in 2022. Served as Professor and Chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology and Vice President of Showa University Hospital, one of the largest academic medical centers in Tokyo, before Stanford. | Introduced the first tele-ICU program in Asia and had business experiences as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company to engage in developing the marketing strategy of new drugs for pharmaceutical companies and standardizing the drug inspection processes for PMDA, a Japanese drug approval agency.
Content updated on Mar 31, 2024
Following the Medical Content Editorial Policy
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Neuropathic pain is usually caused by an injury, disease, or problem with the somatosensory nervous system. This is a common long-term pain condition that greatly affects a person's quality of life. The nerves in this system are what let us feel things like temperature, pressure, and pain. This type of pain often feels like a burning, tingling, sharp, or stabbing sensation. It can be triggered by light touch or cold, and can be constant or come and go. It can also get worse when resting or at night. Neuropathic pain is often caused by viral infections like post-herpetic neuralgia, cancer, blood vessel abnormalities, alcoholism, diabetes, nerve pressure, nerve damage from surgery or accidents, and neurological conditions like multiple sclerosis and shingles.
Your doctor may ask these questions to check for this disease:
The aim of treating neuropathic pain is to control the pain and better the person's life. This usually involves a mix of drugs, physical therapy, and mental health treatments. Medicines used might be antidepressants, anticonvulsants, and opioid pain relievers. Physical therapies work to build up the body and increase movement, while mental health treatments like cognitive behavioral therapy can help people deal with the emotional effects of having long-term pain. Sometimes, surgery or neurostimulation therapies might be used.
Baron R, Binder A, Wasner G. Neuropathic pain: diagnosis, pathophysiological mechanisms, and treatment. Lancet Neurol. 2010 Aug;9(8):807-19. doi: 10.1016/S1474-4422(10)70143-5. PMID: 20650402.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laneur/article/PIIS1474-4422(10)70143-5/fulltextSt John Smith E. Advances in understanding nociception and neuropathic pain. J Neurol. 2018 Feb;265(2):231-238. doi: 10.1007/s00415-017-8641-6. Epub 2017 Oct 14. PMID: 29032407; PMCID: PMC5808094.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00415-017-8641-6Bouhassira D. Neuropathic pain: Definition, assessment and epidemiology. Rev Neurol (Paris). 2019 Jan-Feb;175(1-2):16-25. doi: 10.1016/j.neurol.2018.09.016. Epub 2018 Oct 29. PMID: 30385075.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0035378718308105?via%3DihubSzok D, Tajti J, Nyári A, Vécsei L. Therapeutic Approaches for Peripheral and Central Neuropathic Pain. Behav Neurol. 2019 Nov 21;2019:8685954. doi: 10.1155/2019/8685954. PMID: 31871494; PMCID: PMC6906810.
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/bn/2019/8685954/Gierthmühlen J, Baron R. Neuropathic Pain. Semin Neurol. 2016 Oct;36(5):462-468. doi: 10.1055/s-0036-1584950. Epub 2016 Sep 23. PMID: 27704502.
https://www.thieme-connect.de/products/ejournals/abstract/10.1055/s-0036-1584950Cohen SP, MaoJ, Neuropathic pain: mechanisms and their clinical implications BMJ 2014;348:g2323
https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.g2323Jensen, T. S., Baron, R., Haanpää, M., Kalso, E., Loeser, J. D., Rice, A. S. C., & Treede, R. D. (2011). A new definition of neuropathic pain. Pain, 152(10), 2204–2205.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pain.2011.06.017Finnerup, N. B., Attal, N., Haroutounian, S., McNicol, E., Baron, R., Dworkin, R. H., ... & Wallace, M. (2015). Pharmacotherapy for neuropathic pain in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The Lancet Neurology, 14(2), 162-173.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S1474-4422(14)70251-0Male, 30s
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My experience was great. I was worried, but the symptom checker helped me narrow down what it might be. I feel a little relieved compared to when I first started, and it gives me a starting point for what my symptoms could mean.
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I was actually very impressed with the results it provided because, although I didn’t mention it during the questionnaire because I thought it was unrelated, it suggested I may have something I’ve actually been diagnosed with in the past.
(Sep 25, 2024)
Reviewed By:
Unnati Patel, MD, MSc (Family Medicine)
Dr.Patel serves as Center Medical Director and a Primary Care Physician at Oak Street Health in Arizona. She graduated from the Zhejiang University School of Medicine prior to working in clinical research focused on preventive medicine at the University of Illinois and the University of Nevada. Dr. Patel earned her MSc in Global Health from Georgetown University, during which she worked with the WHO in Sierra Leone and Save the Children in Washington, D.C. She went on to complete her Family Medicine residency in Chicago at Norwegian American Hospital before completing a fellowship in Leadership in Value-based Care in conjunction with the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management, where she earned her MBA. Dr. Patel’s interests include health tech and teaching medical students and she currently serves as Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Arizona School of Medicine.
Kenji Igarashi, MD (Anesthesiology)
Dr. Igarashi graduated from the University of Tokyo, Faculty of Medicine. He completed his residency at the Tokyo Metropolitan Geriatric Hospital and Institute of Gerontology and joined Ubie in October 2017. At Ubie, he designs medical data and supports the pharmaceutical team. He also works regularly as an anesthesiologist and internist.
Hiroshi Otake, MD (Anesthesiology)
A 20+years experienced board-certified Anesthesiologist/Critical Care Physician. | An expert in clinical implementation for digital health and machine learning with multi-national clinical experiences in Japan, US and Australia. | Graduated from Master of Science in Clinical Informatics Management at Stanford University in 2022. Served as Professor and Chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology and Vice President of Showa University Hospital, one of the largest academic medical centers in Tokyo, before Stanford. | Introduced the first tele-ICU program in Asia and had business experiences as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company to engage in developing the marketing strategy of new drugs for pharmaceutical companies and standardizing the drug inspection processes for PMDA, a Japanese drug approval agency.
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Ubie’s symptom checker demonstrated a Top-10 hit accuracy of 71.6%, surpassing the performance of several leading symptom checkers in the market, which averaged around 60% accuracy in similar assessments.
Link to full study:
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.08.29.24312810v1