Transverse myelitis, Spinal Pain Leads Paralyzed
Posted in category: Health News at: November 7, 2011 by admin
Transverse myelitis is an inflammation of the spine which attacks the myelin coating, the membrane that surrounds nerve cell fibers. Transverse myelitis can cause spinal cord injuries.
Nerve signaling disorders due to transverse myelitis can cause pain, nerve disorders, muscle paralysis, and bowel or bladder dysfunction. Treatment can menggunankan anti-inflammatory drugs, medications to manage symptoms and rehabilitation therapy.
Symptom
Signs and symptoms of Transverse myelitis usually appear rapidly over several hours and worsens over several days.
1. Pain.
Starting at the neck or back, depending on which part of the spinal cord are affected. Sharp pain that may radiate down the leg, arm or abdomen.
2. Abnormal sensation.
Some patients experience numbness, tingling, or burning. There’s also become very sensitive to the touch of clothing or temperature. Patients may feel as though the skin, stomach, chest or legs are wrapped tightly by something.
3. Arms or legs weakened.
Some patients are forced to drag one leg as heavy as it moves, while others may experience severe paralysis.
4. Bladder and bowel problems.
Can be beser, difficulty urinating and constipation.
Cause
Transverse myelitis may be caused by infections that do not directly affect the spine or immune system disorder that attacks the body’s own tissues. Can also be a symptom other myelin disorders, such as multiple sclerosis.
Inflammation is an immune system response to disease or injury are normal. But sometimes the immune system attacks the body’s own tissues, an event known as an autoimmune phenomenon.
The exact reason the immune system disruption at transerve myelitis is unknown. However, there are a number of conditions that trigger or contribute to these disorders, namely;
1. Viral infections of the respiratory tract or gastrointestinal tract. In most cases, inflammatory disorders appear after a person has recovered from a viral infection.
2. Mycoplasma pneumonia, mild pneumonia caused by bacteria.
3. Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disorder in which the immune system destroys myelin nerves in the spinal cord and brain. Transerve myelitis may be the first sign of the emergence of multiple sclerosis. Transerve myelitis occurring as a sign of multiple sclerosis usually affects one side of the body.
4. Neuromyelitis Optica (Devic disease) is a condition that causes inflammation and loss of myelin around the spinal cord and optic nerves, the nerves in the eye that transmits information to the brain.
Signs and symptoms usually affects both sides of the body. Damage to the myelin in the optic nerve causes pain in the eye and vision loss while. However, some patients with neuromyelitis Optica not impaired in the eye and has only transerve symptoms of myelitis.
Autoimmune disorder that affects the body’s system and is responsible for the development of myelitis transerve ie: Lupus that affects multiple body systems, and Sjogren’s syndrome that causes severe dryness of the mouth and eyes.
Vaccination for infectious diseases, like hepatitis B, measles-mumps-rubella, and diphtheria-tetanus vaccine, rarely identified as triggers of this disease.
Treatments and drugs
1. Intravenous steroids.
After receiving the diagnosis, the patient may receive steroid injections through a vein in the arm for several days. Steroids help reduce inflammation in the spine.
2. Therapeutic plasma exchange. if the patient does not respond to steroids, he will undergo plasma exchange therapy. This therapy will eliminate straw-colored fluid that mixes with the blood cells and replace them with a special fluid. Plasma exchange removes antibodies cause inflammation.
3. Pain medication. Drugs that can reduce the pain associated with spinal cord damage, among others; acetaminophen (Tylenol), ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) and naproxen (Aleve, Naprosyn), antidepressants, and anti-seizure medication.
4. Drugs to treat other complications. Your doctor may prescribe other medications needed to treat problems such as muscle spasms, bladder or bowel dysfunction, depression or other complications.
Therapy without medication
1. Physical therapy. Physical therapy helps increase strength and improve coordination. The physical therapist will teach you how to use assistive devices such as canes, wheelchairs, or braces if necessary.
2. Occupational therapy. This therapy helps patients learn new ways of doing everyday activities such as bathing, preparing meals and cleaning house.
3. Psychotherapy. A psychotherapist can use talk therapy to treat anxiety, depression, sexual dysfunction, and other emotional or behavioral problems that may be related to Transverse myelitis patients cope.
Prognosis
Most patients with this disease experienced a partial recovery, and the process can take a year or more. Recovery depends on the cause of the illness. There are three categories of patients who successfully recovered from Transverse myelitis;
1. No or few defects. The patient still had some residual symptoms.
2. Defects are. Patients still can work, but may have difficulty walking, numbness or tingling, and bladder or bowel problems.
3. Severe disability. Patients should be seated in a wheelchair permanently and require assistance in performing daily activities.
It is difficult to predict the development of transverse myelitis. Generally, people who experience early symptoms quickly have a worse prognosis than the symptoms initially slower.
