Please welcome Paula Ptacek of California. Paula's email address is tpizoopaula@mac.com and she would like to hear from you.
Paula says:
"wow! i hope someone can help me. had back surg (and myeogram) 15 yrs ago, laminectomy l2/3. long recovery but mostly ok until diagnosis of Multiple sclerosis 4 years ago. doing ok with betaseron treatment after initial blindness and semi-parqalysis. have had a lot of MRI's with contrast over the last 4 years for diagnosis, research and recurrent back problems, including 3 months of lower back pain radiating to right leg.. had an mri which demonstrated the spine of an 80 year old, sort of out of the blue compared to others==ie, severe spinal stenosis in 3 discs, bone spurs impinging on spinal column, and.... get ready for it..... arachnoiditis! i'm wondering how one 57 year old got so damn lucky! did i mention that I was a picu and nicu nurse for 30 years as well as a nursing instructor at UCLA and i don't know anything about most of this?
anyway, found an orthopod who knew he couldn't treat the ms or arachnoiditis, but felt he could remedy the rest of my back issues and provide me with some spinal stability. had surgery 6 weeks ago and all ok, except!!!! bursts of spasms/pain in one spot in my lower back when i least expect it, causing shouting out in pain and total body spasm. also, now have the appearance of a rash on my right buttock, which doesn't go away. now i don't know who to go to, what to do. ms doc says arach is not her thing, oorthopod is followwing the pain wondering about surgical issues. can anyone help? does any of this sound familiar?"
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What kind of surgery did you have that gave you spinal stability? I am quite surprised that a surgeon would want to do surgery since arachnoiditis can be worsened by any surgery or invasive spinal treatment (epidural injections, etc.). I have the spasms and the all of the sudden pain also. It just goes along with arachnoiditis I think. :(
ReplyDeleteBarb, I had 2 spinal surgeries for instability that were fusions with hardware. Of course they did not work and I ended up with AA and a mass of other ailments, but fusions are usually what stabilizes the spine under normal circumstances. You are right about the pain and spasms going along with Arachnoiditis. Some people have it worse than others. From what I have been told any invasive procedure will aggrevate or advance the Arachnoiditis and I will never have another surgery or procedure unless it is a matter of life or death. Cindy Hellman, Co-Founder LWA
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