What is Arachnoiditis?
Before you push the panic button, take a deep breath. No seriously. Do it now. In through your nose and out through your mouth. Do this three times...I'll wait.
You are going to be ok.
You are at a crossroads where you can choose to live a life filled with love and joy or a life filled with the pain you are in now.
I want you to choose to fight as I have.
Arachnoiditis is classified as a rare disease.
The majority of Arachnoiditis cases are iatrogenic which means caused by medical intervention. There are numerous causes of arachnoiditis:
1. Direct mechanical injuries (dural cut/tear) caused by surgical interventions, especially repeat spinal operations, after fusions or minimally invasive procedures requiring corrective surgeries.
2. Trauma to the spinal cord.
3. Epidural disc prolapse.
4. Repeat manipulation during catheter or leads insertion.
5. One or multiple spinal taps.
6. Several steroid epidural injections.
7. Injections of epidural steroids gone intrathecal.
8. Difficult epidural blood patches.
9. Injection of myelogram dye into the spinal cord.
10. Infections that may cause meningitis (viral, fungal or bacterial).
11. Epidurals during childbirth
All of the current, non-existent, research says that it is an incurable and progressive acute inflammatory condition that occurs in the dura (exterior) and the arachnoid (interior), two of the three membranes that cover and protect the brain, the spinal cord, and the nerve roots leading from the spinal cord.
The arachnoid contains the cerebrospinal fluid which circulates from the brain to the sacrum every two hours. The fluid filters any invasion and usually responds first by inflammation. Secondly with a chronic life-long phase characterized by scarring and fibrosis.
As a result, abnormal adhesion of nerve roots to the dural sac or to each other (clumping) occurs in a variety of configurations that alter significantly the function of the nerve roots, the spinal cord, and the cerebral fluid.
This causes a variety of neurological deficits and severe chronic neuropathic pain usually located in the area affected and referred pain to the extremities.
Now what to do about it?
First, read my blog posts on how to get pain free days.
6 Steps to Have Pain Free Days
Day in the Life of a Chronic Pain Warrior
Second, get a knowledgeable doctor that has time to listen, learn, and work with you. I found a functional medicine doctor so I recommend googling "FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE" doctor for your area or a "NATUROPATHIC MEDICINE" doctor.
Third, research, test, and figure out what is going to work for you. Check out these materials by Dr. Forest Tennant and Practical Pain Management
What does your future look like?
Well, I decided to try everything, and I mean everything. Yoga, meditation, changing my diet, reiki healing, acupuncture, dry needling, IFC therapy, Epsom salt ice baths, light therapy, chiro therapy, chiropractic, medicine, supplements, dry brushing, fasciablasting, inversion therapy, traction...the list goes on and on.
The point is I didn't give up and it took two years of working on my health every single day to see improvement but gradually I did.
The hard part, your health is now your career. If you want your pain to decrease, doing what it takes is now your job.
Good Luck.
If you need any advice, feel free to leave a comment or send me a message.
Photo by Matheus Bertelli from Pexels
If they gave Oscars for blog posts, you'd receive one. This is the best, most concise, most easily understood explanation of this condition that I have read—and I've read a lot about this.
ReplyDeleteVERY WELL DONE!