Neuritis
Jacob Alvarado
Symptoms
Pain: in the face, back, hands, foot, or thigh, can occur at night, can be sharp or burning and tingling
Sensory: sensitivity to pain, numbness, over sensitivity, uncomfortable tingling and burning, or pins and needles
Muscular: problems with coordination, difficulty walking, muscle weakness, or loss of muscle
Whole body: poor balance or weakness
Also common: tingling feet, burning sensation, slow reflexes, apprehension, tingling fingers, blister, cramping, or callus
Cause / Frequency
3 Million cases per year in the United States
A common cause of peripheral neuropathy is diabetes
The causes of nerve pathology include:
- Mechanical from injury, pressure, overworking a part of the body
- Vascular (blockage of a vessel or hemorrhage into nerve tissue)
- Infectious as in shingles, diptheria, polio, tetanus, or leprosy
- Toxic from heavy metals like arsenic, mercury and lead; chemical poisoning from organo-phosphates, drugs or alcohol; vaccination as in Guillain Barré syndrome
- Metabolic from acidosis, vitamin deficiencies, diabetes.
Treatment
The usual course of oral prednisolone (Prescription drug) treatment begins with 40-60 mg daily up to a maximum of 1 mg/kg body weight per day and normally controls the neuritis within a few days.
Most neuritis can be treated successfully under field conditions with the standard 12 week oral prednisolone treatment
Prognosis
Neuritis, inflammation of one or more nerves. Neuritis can be caused by injury, infection, or autoimmune disease.
The symptoms include pain and tenderness, impaired sensation, often with numbness or hypersensitivity, impaired strength and reflexes, and abnormal circulation and decreased ability to sweat in the distribution of the inflamed nerve or nerves.
Prevention
Preventing neuritis may be easily done if a person does not have history of ailments that can cause it like diabetes or HIV/AIDS.
You can avoid neuritis by living a healthy life and by trying to avoid the possible triggers for this ailment.
Works Cited
"Neuritis | Pathology." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 26 May 2015.
"Neuritis/Neuropathy." - Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment and Information. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 May 2015.
"Optic Neuritis." Symptoms. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 May 2015.