Can Arachnoiditis be caused by multiple attempts of epidural from labor?

Yes I think you have adhesive arachnoiditis caused from the injections. I suffered severe spinal trauma from a work injury, my injury was on the job and due to workers compensation in Canada, everything was used to deny me timely diagnosis - timely medical care. My injury happened Nov 2004; Even though x-rays question spinal fractures, I was denied further diagnostic study. Multiple trips to emergency at different hospitals then doctor to doctor trying to get help for specific complaints were all denied. In Nov 2007 I received my 1st spinal injection under fluoroscope , ( marcaine + celestone ) within a few months a different type of pain started. I developed a whole bunch of side effects, each year since my pain has escalated. In 2009 I received another spinal injection (depro medrol) which caused immediate severe pain. this injection was done "Blindly". Never in my life would I have allowed any doctor anywhere near my spine with a needle had I been warned or even told, right on the bottle it states; "Not for spinal injection" Intramuscular injection ONLY; I was NOT told that the doctor was using a medicine in the injection "Off Label" On Pubmed, studys show injections for spinal trauma are of little value and the risks outweigh the benefits; When suffering in extreme pain you will do almost anything to stop the pain. However had I been WARNED or even told the truth, I would never allowed the doctor to inject me. Since receiving the injection in 2007 and 2009 my life is a "Living Hell"

Dr. Aldrete in Birmingham Al. is one of the leading specialists, here is his contact info; Dr. Antonio Aldrete MD, PO Box 4627, Santa Rosa Beach, FL 32459-4627. If you have any questions you can call him at (205) 240-4231 Send your scans or/and go see him. There are treatments to HELP with the pain that are better than pills and patches. Lidocaine / Ketamine infusion was told to me to be very good at attacking the pain and getting relief;
Sincerely
Bruce Junker,
Canada

Holy crap, I've been looking for somebody that had a similar experience that I have, you just explained my entire epidural. Only after it was all said and done and I went to dr after dr and chiropractor I finally went and got my report for me epidural, and he lied! About how many attempt, which was 7, and how no blood was present and no problems, which was a lie. And now I'm in the middle of suing them because I can't even begin to stand for over an hour. I'm glad you got relieve and know what's wrong.

Sorry to hear of your pain. I am a 44 yo man with similar problems. I was strong and healthy before my back began to go. I have had major
Back surgery double fusion and work done on my entire lumbar. I thought I was feeling improvement six months after my operation but soon started to deteriorate I had to apply for Ssi and am on disability now. I have had an MRI which shows multiple areas of concern but the worst being arachnoiditis. I am going to get a second opinion because it is my understanding that arachnoiditis is a one way ticket to being bed bound! Get another MRI with contrast and ask your doctor about trying subutex for pain... It is used to ween opiate dependent people off their drugs... Even though it is a narcotic it doesn't have the same effect on ones thinking. I have been on it for a month and it has been working much better than the oxicodone that I have been on for 6 years+ now! It is 30-40x's better analgesic than morphine! I am searching now for a Doctor or clinic that works with arachnoiditis but no luck so far. Most doctors do not want to get involved with us because as if now they have no treatment or cure... At least not yet! Again get an MRI with contrast and ask your doctor about subutex for pain... I think you will have a much better quality of life not felling like your in a haze all of the time. Good luck!

hey purple, the next step is to get another MRI to see how far the nerves are adhered so they have ordered an mri of the thoracic spine, i have never had one that far up before , then after that we are going to do a trial of a spinal cord stimulator , if that doesnt work than maybe do a morphine pump. maybe we could set up a good time to talk on the phone one day, to be honest it would be nice to actually hear your voice. plus there is just toooooo much info that our tired fingers just cant type. let me know,
but u need to make sure that the mri technician knows that arach is the issue to look for. also make sure to ask when you get the results, dr's are busy and sometimes forget the reasons why they ordered the test, so if they say no we didnt see that then you want to say " so there wasnt any scar tissue or nerve adhearence or clumping" that way they have to answer the question more specificly. i think this might help.. also it never hurts to make sure that at every appt you remind your dr that you had a causative factor that could have led to the nerve damage. have you been getting all of your records and office notes from all the dr's you have seen for this , make sure that you do and review them..i guarentee.lol you will find some mistakes , i have found so many , some even big ones within my medical records
indiana mama

When i started this I only expected to get a few responses, of either a yes or no nature. Remeber the title of this blog..can mult. epidural attepts cause Arachnoiditis?........Well the answer is YES. A few days ago as i continued my search for what was going on with me (especially after the surgery) I went to a new neurosurgeon...long story short he confirmed it. i have adhesive arachnoiditis. But of course he didn't know the cause it could have been the epidurals or the surgery...whats weird is that I like this guy, mainly because he wasn't afraid to diagnose me and tell me what to expect (i already knew all of it though) but when I started asking about the cause . of course for legal reasons , he stopped me and kept telling me he was only here for the " now" issues not for the " why" and "how come" issues...i even offered to let him see any of my 4 other MRI's from before the surgery..which he declined. So it leaves me to wonder...He really doesn't want to know which one caused it. and that really sucks, because how can you have a good relationship with you Dr if he expects you to be honest with him, but not the other way around.
So now that I have my diagnosis, I'm going to take a break from all the message boards and researching for a while, I need some time to enjoy life again, without the pressure of being undiagnosed...I now, need; to just BE!
So my advice for anyone who is having problems getting a diagnosis, or even having your doctor rule it out/ or look into it is...get another Dr. that doesn't mean that you have to change records and move across town , i just mean keep making appts until you beleive that a dr ha taken your concens seriously . make sure you have done your homework so that you know the test and procedures that should be run, this way you'll know if they are doing what needs to be done. If they dont do something that you think they should, make sure you ask about it. Sometimes it may not be nessesary, for many reasons...anyways the point is , if your not getting anywhere or getting any answers with your current team of dr's then you need to try new ones, get some fresh perspectives, ya never know it just might work out...it did for me.

indiana mama