Chemical radiculitis is a controversial diagnosis which might affect some patients who have experienced a ruptured disc in their spines. Radiculitis, also called radicular pain, is a process defined as discomfort and neurological symptoms produced by the inflammation or irritation of a spinal nerve root. In this instance, the irritation occurs as a direct result of the proteins which might leak from an annular tear in a ruptured intervertebral disc.
This dialog will seek to provide informative facts about chemical irritation of nerve tissues, due to leaking nucleus proteins. In this discussion, you can learn how nerve roots may be more sensitive to this process in some people, than in others; explaining why this condition does not universally affect patients equally.
Explanation of Chemical Radiculitis
The soft inner core of an intervertebral disc contains certain types of proteins which might leak out of the disc if a rupture or annular tear occurs. Sometimes, these proteins might come in contact with a spinal nerve root, causing irritation and inflammation of the neurological tissue.
A particular protein, called tumor necrosis factor-alpha, is thought to be responsible for doing most of the damage to the sensitive nerve material, since it is a known contributor to inflammatory processes and even apoptotic cellular death. It is theorized that some people have natural sensitivities or resistances to this substance, explaining the great diversity of possible expressions from virtually identical exposures to this organic chemical.
Chemical Radiculitis Treatments
Typically, this condition is first treated non-surgically using epidural injections consisting of various steroids, anti-inflammatory drugs, long lasting anesthetics and flushing solutions designed to nullify the chemical reaction caused by the proteins. These injections might relieve pain in some patients and sometimes even permanently cure the condition.
Physical therapy, chiropractic and acupuncture are also common therapy modalities, but besides acupuncture, it is not clear what the others are trying to accomplish.
Herniated disc surgery is sometimes performed, but generally offers poor curative results, regardless of the diagnosed source process for pain.
Chemical irritation should resolve all by itself over time, since the body will eventually disperse and absorb these seemingly caustic proteins.
Chemical Radicular Pain
Radicular pain is always a problematic condition to treat and generally leads to a chronic symptomatic condition. The usual reason for this occurrence is the misdiagnosis of the actual source of the pain. Remember that the chemical irritation diagnosis is extremely controversial and does not seem to apply to many patients who have been exposed to obvious interaction between disc proteins and localized nerve tissues.
For people who are susceptible, flushing injections often bring relief, even when multiple rounds are required for complete symptomatic resolution.
In other patients, the chemical radicular pain diagnosis might be just another guess, being that no definitive nerve or spinal cord compression exists, yet back or neck pain is present. This embodies the structural obsession of the dorsalgia industry and is the main reason why it is so unenlightened and ineffective for providing cures. In most of these patients, the disc issue is likely to be completely innocent and coincidental to the pain, when all along another source process goes on causing agony unchecked.
Herniated Disc > Herniated Disc Diagnosis > Chemical Radiculitis
