The Aword

Dear DocSarah,

I sincerely appreciate the time and effort you put in to respond to my ever-going queries. Your answers have helped me tremendouly, and it's so great and comforting to know that there is someone in the medical field who can and will help us understand arachnoiditis better.

In my case, I know I have arachnoiditis as seen in a myelogram with CT. Luckily, my symptoms, though many, are fairly mild. I do know also that I have many other \"mechanical\" problems in cervical, thoracic and lumber spines. I also have many symptoms of some of the connective tissue diseases (are they considered autoimmune conditions?) such as Lupus and rheumatoid Arthritis as well as those of Lyme Disease. I went to see a different rheumatologist last week who happened to be a Lyme specialist, as I was urged to do so by my best friend who suffers from chronic Lyme because of so many Lyme symptoms I have.

Interestingly, many of arachnoiditis symptoms are very similar to Lyme symptoms. This doctor even suspects Lyme for me. She also mentioned Undifferentiated Connective Tissue multi system disease needed to be difined.

Also, last week before I saw her, I had another episode of near-faiting two nights in a row, one of which with scary new experience with sudden onset of unusually weak and heavy arms, shoulders and around the neck, then onto nausea, severe vision distortion (no flashing lights or zig-zag lines but just fuzzy bright thing), severe high-pitch ringing in ears, racing hreat, and feeling that I was going to pass out. I have had much less scary version several times since last October when I did pass out after vomiting violently for a few times. A Brain MRI was \"stable\", and an EEG was normal following that episode. This new doctor thought I might have experienced optic migranes (I had no headache all these times) though she wants to review my recent EEG I got after the fainting episode in October to see if she could detect even minor signs of seizures. She gave me Maxalt 10 mg to take at the onset of visual disturbance.

She also wants me to take a baby aspirin every other day to prevent blood clot. Also, she wants me to see a cardiologist to do 24 hour Holter Monitor, since my heart rate can get very fast at resting, which I can feel it and see in my shaking hands/arms with each heart beat.

Well, she ordered a lot of blood tests that day. She is going to explore any possibility of anything, including murcury poisoning and food allergy. During the examination, she mentioned \"strep\" as well as \"septic\" arthritis when she saw my red fingers.

Part of me thinks that most of my symptoms are from arachnoiditis and that nothing abnormal will show up in any test. Would this be a possibility that A could cause even these?

But then another part of me thinks (and even hopes) that I do have something else, hopefully something definable besides all my known \"mechanicel\" problems, since my A symptoms are mild and, particularly, I don't know if A could cause all these symptoms (non-mechanical nature) I am experiencing. Does it make sense to you?

That's why, basically, I want to understand as much as possible about Arachnoiditis. I did tell this new doctor that I knew I had Adhesive Arachnoiditis, which could cause so many of the symptoms of Lyme and that I just wanted to rule it out medically (so I wouldn't keep thinking \"maybe\"). I also told her that I wondered if she could see (and find) something that other doctors might have missed. Maybe they all come from my life-long neck problems, but would that be possible? Any thoughts? I know you don't know all the details of my medical history, but I am hoping that you can point me to something. I guess I can at least go back to all your articles and read them again!

Thanks for caring and listening.

Best Regards,
Mitsuyo

Dear DocSarah,

I sincerely appreciate the time and effort you put in to respond to my ever-going queries. Your answers have helped me tremendouly, and it's so great and comforting to know that there is someone in the medical field who can and will help us understand arachnoiditis better.

In my case, I know I have arachnoiditis as seen in a myelogram with CT. Luckily, my symptoms, though many, are fairly mild. I do know also that I have many other \"mechanical\" problems in cervical, thoracic and lumber spines. I also have many symptoms of some of the connective tissue diseases (are they considered autoimmune conditions?) such as Lupus and rheumatoid Arthritis as well as those of Lyme Disease. I went to see a different rheumatologist last week who happened to be a Lyme specialist, as I was urged to do so by my best friend who suffers from chronic Lyme because of so many Lyme symptoms I have.

Interestingly, many of arachnoiditis symptoms are very similar to Lyme symptoms. This doctor even suspects Lyme for me. She also mentioned Undifferentiated Connective Tissue multi system disease needed to be difined.

Also, last week before I saw her, I had another episode of near-faiting two nights in a row, one of which with scary new experience with sudden onset of unusually weak and heavy arms, shoulders and around the neck, then onto nausea, severe vision distortion (no flashing lights or zig-zag lines but just fuzzy bright thing), severe high-pitch ringing in ears, racing hreat, and feeling that I was going to pass out. I have had much less scary version several times since last October when I did pass out after vomiting violently for a few times. A Brain MRI was \"stable\", and an EEG was normal following that episode. This new doctor thought I might have experienced optic migranes (I had no headache all these times) though she wants to review my recent EEG I got after the fainting episode in October to see if she could detect even minor signs of seizures. She gave me Maxalt 10 mg to take at the onset of visual disturbance.

She also wants me to take a baby aspirin every other day to prevent blood clot. Also, she wants me to see a cardiologist to do 24 hour Holter Monitor, since my heart rate can get very fast at resting, which I can feel it and see in my shaking hands/arms with each heart beat.

Well, she ordered a lot of blood tests that day. She is going to explore any possibility of anything, including murcury poisoning and food allergy. During the examination, she mentioned \"strep\" as well as \"septic\" arthritis when she saw my red fingers.

Part of me thinks that most of my symptoms are from arachnoiditis and that nothing abnormal will show up in any test. Would this be a possibility that A could cause even these?

But then another part of me thinks (and even hopes) that I do have something else, hopefully something definable besides all my known \"mechanicel\" problems, since my A symptoms are mild and, particularly, I don't know if A could cause all these symptoms (non-mechanical nature) I am experiencing. Does it make sense to you?

That's why, basically, I want to understand as much as possible about Arachnoiditis. I did tell this new doctor that I knew I had Adhesive Arachnoiditis, which could cause so many of the symptoms of Lyme and that I just wanted to rule it out medically (so I wouldn't keep thinking \"maybe\"). I also told her that I wondered if she could see (and find) something that other doctors might have missed. Maybe they all come from my life-long neck problems, but would that be possible? Any thoughts? I know you don't know all the details of my medical history, but I am hoping that you can point me to something. I guess I can at least go back to all your articles and read them again!

Thanks for caring and listening.

Best Regards,
Mitsuyo