Symptoms of Arachnoiditis: A Severe Chronic Pain Disorder

Millions of people suffer from chronic pain conditions and many remain undiagnosed for years. Rheumatoid Arthritis, Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome are just a few of the disorders that cause chronic pain. There is another disorder that is not as well known, but just as the others the pain caused by Arachnoiditis is real and debilitating.

Arachnoiditis is a debilitating chronic pain disorder that causes severe stinging and burning pain. Arachnoiditis is also known as Arachnitis, Cerebral Arachnoiditis, Chronic Adhesive Arachnoiditis, Serous circumscribed Meningitis and Spinal Arachnoiditis.

The symptoms of Arachnoiditis are pain, mild to severe headaches, numbness, tingling, vision disturbances, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, weakness, paralysis, loss of sensation in legs, loss of leg movement, muscle wasting, bladder, bowel and sexual dysfunction and uncontrollable twitching.

The treatment for Arachnoiditis is primarily focused on pain relief. The condition as a whole is highly difficult to treat and there is only slight improvement with treatment. The treatments are a lot like others that are used to treat other chronic pain disorders. The treatment plan will usually include pain management, physiotherapy, exercise and psychotherapy. Although these treatments will not stop the pain they will make the pain a little more manageable. Surgery is an option, but it isn't recommended because it often only provides short-term pain relief.

This disorder is caused by inflammation of the arachnoid. The arachnoid is the middle of three membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord. The arachnoid carries cerebrospinal fluid and its purpose is to protect and cushion the nervous tissue.

The inflammation of the arachnoid can be caused by several different factors including a major car accident, myelographic dyes (dye called radiographic contrast media that is used for diagnostic test), meningitis or tuberculosis, spinal stenosis (narrowing of the spaces in the spine), epidural blood patch (an injection of your blood into the epidural space), subarachnoid hemorrhage (happens when a blood vessel outside the brain ruptures), steroid injections, Amphotericin B (medication used to treat potentially life-threatening fungal infection), Methotrexate (medication used to treat certain types of cancer), multiple lumbar punctures (medical test that involves taking a small sample of cerebrospinal fluid for examination, also known as a spinal tap), chemonucleolysis with chymopapain (technique used to treat a herniated lumbar pulposus) and degenerative disk disease.

There is no cure for Arachnoiditis and the disorder is progressive and often debilitating. Severe cases can result in partial or total paralysis. It isn't known how many people are affected by Arachnoiditis, but it is rare.