So my body decided this last week – perhaps seeing as it’s ARACHNOIDITIS AWARENESS MONTH 2022 – to completely relapse in typically explosive fashion! The full flare burst in on Tuesday following a slow deterioration after travelling a couple of hours by car to see my specialist Spinal CSF Leak neurologist (who also leads on my Arachnoiditis care) and having a neuro examination last Friday.

The neurological examination included straight leg raises, leg strength tests, reflexes, sensation tests etc.

I wonder if my body was slightly more vulnerable because I had slightly lowered my steroids and LDN over recent weeks. I often take 10mg of prednisolone if I am going on a long car journey – but didn’t this time. I only took 5mg. Then the travelling, neurological examination then the car journey the next day (as we stayed over in a hotel to break up the journey) was the final trigger to the almighty flare.

By the Saturday morning I was already feeling worse and the car journey home harder. And then things slowly deteriorated until the full symptom explosion on Tuesday.

It was so tough to be back there again – in a massive relapse – after a much better and more stable 18 months.

I am extremely grateful for the swift response of my local neurologist who supports me with the help of my CSF leak neurologist. They are the ones who treat me locally with IV methylprednisolone. She responded the same day we reported the relapse and set in motion the previous-agreed treatment plan (3 day course methylprednisolone (steroid) 1g bag a day).

Unfortunately though, the day ward at my local hospital didn’t have any beds until the next Wednesday so we tried A&E Friday after being redirected by them if I needed more urgent care. Thankfully it was unusually quiet at 10:30am and after speedy assessment I was quickly moved to a quiet dark room on GPAU (GP ASSESSMENT UNIT) and after lots of waiting, seeing a medical doctor and neurologist and after various examinations/ blood tests I was finally given the steroids at about 7:45pm that evening. I then went back on the Saturday and Sunday for the full course – which were much quicker. Those IV’s only took about 1 hour.

I am very thankful to both my consultants, and the doctors and medical staff I saw that day, who enabled access to this level of rapid care. It is my quickest treatment and acute symptom reversal to date. What used to take many weeks or months to slowly improve (& often not fully) is now is happening in a week.

Which really is a miracle to me.

I am so pleased to report that the results of the steroid treatment were again were radical, in completely reversing and turning around the flare.

Rapid treatment of flares is the key to stop further damage (nerve clumping and adhesions) and allows me to recover more quickly as I lose less conditioning – so it’s been good to find a new possible treatment pathway IF the day ward is not able to help so quickly.

To raise awareness I have made video and photo diaries from the past week of relapse symptom progression and the impact of the IV steroids (1 gram bag of methylprednisolone x3 over 3 days). My hope is that in time more people can be diagnosed far quicker than the 5 1/2 years it took me and get access to similar treatment whilst the condition is still more able to respond.

There are of course many risks to high dose and long term steroid use especially osteoporosis, adrenal gland issues and many other things. This does mean steroid treatment is not something to be taken lightly. But in my eyes – the risks to my body of further nerve clumping and adhesions in my lumbar spine that could leave me at least partially – if not fully paralysed and in constant intractable pain and thus bed bound – is a MUCH greater risk. To my body, mental health and even an osteoporosis risk in itself if I can’t walk. So the use of steroids must be carefully managed by an experienced medical team – but if they both radically improve the AA symptoms, neuro inflammation damage, quality of life, general health and mental health long term – to me it is worth the risk.

My hope is that in time as Arachnoiditis / Adhesive Arachnoiditis is more recognised, diagnosed and researched that more medications may become available that have less risks long term. This is what has happened with other neuro inflammatory conditions like MS or other inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis or crohn’s / colitis. But that is partly because many more people suffer from these conditions and there is much more research and clinical trials done.

The new video is a 25min video in total because it includes video and photo diaries of my whole journey from relapse explosion to post IV recovery. But the information below the video in YouTube has chapter summary’s which allows you to skip through to different parts for ease and speed. And also enables people to go back to particular parts of interest.

These are the chapter summaries with timings:

• 0:22 Day 1 of Arachnoiditis symptom explosion – back, neck, head pain, weak legs, burning feet, low pressure headache, cognitive issues
• 2:08 Day 2 of symptom explosion – spoke to neurologist who will arrange IV methylprednisolone
• 3:23 Key symptoms – Tingling, cold, burning feet. Walking getting worse, feet not working properly, trip hazard, neck burning/ stiffness
• 5:25 Day 3 of relapse – Increasing photophobia, lumbar and neck pain horrendous, pins and needles everywhere, wee makes head worse.
• 7:09 20mg prednisolone, 50mg diclofenac, 50mg pregabalin & 4.5ml LDN
• 7:25 Video of me struggling to walk
• 8:05 Twitching/ jolting/ electric shock sensation – take 2mg diazepam
• 9:36 Struggling to walk up stairs
• 10:06 Day 4 of flare – really struggling. Go to A&E and moved to GPAU.
• 11:52 First dose of 1 gram bag of IV methylprednisolone on GPAU unit at local hospital
• 12:23 Day 2 of IV steroid treatment including update on recovery morning after first lot
• 16:20 Photos of receiving second dose of IV steroids
• 16:39 Stairs walking much improved
• 16:48 Day 3 of IV steroid treatment including update on recovery morning after 2nd dose
• 18:58 Final 1 gram bag of methylprednisolone at GPAU unit
• 19:05 Final update on recovery

My hope in making and sharing these videos is that awareness is raised. That patients, their families & friends, doctors, medical staff and the general public are educated and that more people with arachnoiditis can get diagnosed and treated. Especially before the condition often becomes more untreatable as it progresses.

It took me 5 1/2 years to get diagnosed with Arachnoiditis after my initial ladder fall and spinal CSF leak onset. Because of that I already have permanent damage to my spine/ nervous system. I battle constant pain, spinal fluid flow issues, I cannot comfortably sit down any more. My neurologist still believes I probably also have the small CSF leak shown on my last full protocol spinal CSF leak MRI’s in September 2019. Which probably complicates things further. My whole Intracranial Pressure System is completely dysregulated.

And yet the Arachnoiditis is still mild enough AA that I can still respond radically to steroid treatment of the acute flares. And we can hopefully now stop more rapid progression into more debilitating AA happening soon.

So I also make videos and share my story here to give others hope. Things can improve.

Please don’t give up!

It is such a hard, deeply painful, grief full, life altering journey to go on…

But an arachnoiditis/ AA diagnosis is not the end!

We are all learning together. And in time – maybe if we all can do our bit to raise awareness. To educate. To keep on fighting even when we just want to give up. Then things just might get easier for us and those patients coming behind us in the future.

So that together we can change the outcome for at least one desperate, struggling and broken soul with – or yet to be diagnosed – with arachnoiditis/ AA.

“Those who have a ‘why’ to live, can bear with almost any ‘how.’” 

Viktor E. Frankl, “Man’s Search for Meaning”

“Perseverance is rooted in hope. We persevere when we believe that what awaits us is worth the fight.”

– Sarah Walton

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Please do make comments or ask questions on YouTube, here, my social media pages or on Facebook group pages and I will try to reply when I can

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ARACHNOIDITIS RESOURCES

‘Arachnoiditis – Taming the Most Painful Pain’ Dr Forest Tennant video https://youtu.be/VGuS1iTuhLo and ‘Arachnoiditis No Longer A Rare Disease’ https://www.practicalpainmanagement.com/pain/spine/adhesive-arachnoiditis-no-longer-rare-disease

Suspecting & Diagnosing Arachnoiditis (J. Antonio Aldrete) https://www.practicalpainmanagement.com/suspecting-diagnosing-arachnoiditis

IV STEROID TREATMENT PAPERS: Dr J. Antonio Aldrete also co-authored a comprehensive medical book called ‘ARACHNOIDITIS THE EVIDENCE REVEALED’ with a whole chapter (51) dedicated to the study of using IV Methylprednisolone in the acute stages of Arachnoiditis/ Adhesive Arachnoiditis to prevent further progression and damage. Another medical paper supporting the use of steroids in treating early stage arachnoiditis: Immunotherapies in chronic adhesive arachnoiditis – A case series and literature review https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405650221000423?fbclid=IwAR0lAuYagMPknv0pATPQ1dvOt_b0VlIEn6yxJx-DJ9o22EDb45LHJYuH9mg And another case where IV methylprednisolone was successfully used: Idiopathic Arachnoiditis of the Cauda Equina: A Case Report from Tanzania https://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/518379?fbclid=IwAR32EN7tPQD3iKOO9I8bI05ylXvuy-yjLsDyVlmESVJsW63y_j1IqAuFxDo