Head pain is disruptive enough on its own. But many patients with occipital neuralgia describe something else alongside the pain: trouble concentrating, a mental fuzziness that doesn’t lift even when the pain briefly eases. It raises a fair question — is the brain fog actually connected, or just a coincidence of a bad day?

Occipital neuralgia involves irritation or entrapment of the occipital nerves — the greater, lesser, and third occipital nerves that run from the upper neck through the scalp. When irritated, they can cause sharp, shooting, or burning pain starting at the base of the skull, sometimes radiating toward the front of the head.