I have been lurking on here for over 5 years now. I truly appreciate all the knowledge shown by so many here daily. I have never posted anything in the 5 years, since every question I ever had was already answered here. All I had to do was search the topic and the answer was already answered a million times.
That brings me to today…… I have a question. I will try to keep brief.
I served for 10 years in the Army, and left service in 1997. I was granted a 20% rating when I separated since I had 2 back surgeries when I was still in service. A couple of years after I separated, I had a third back surgery and was granted an increase for my back from 20% to 40%. I have been able to add a couple of other non-back connected ratings over the years and currently sit at 70% overall.
Now 29 years later, and my back situation is progressively getting worse (as is the case with a lot of us). I have several potential claims I can file that has plenty of literature here already, so I will not mention those. There is however one condition that I could not find any information on here for, Arachnoiditis.
AI description of Arachnoiditis is: A rare, painful, and often debilitating condition caused by inflammation of the arachnoid mater, a membrane covering the spinal nerves. Spinal surgery is one of the potential causes of Arachnoiditis. Arachnoiditis is rated under DC5293, central nervous system and neuromuscular diseases.
Symptoms I am having are constant numbing, burning sensation, and tingling of both legs from the kneed down. Very painful spasms below the knees several times throughout the day/night. Constant lower back pain that ranges from moderate to severe. I have also lost some strength on both legs (right more than the left).
My question is, has anyone had any experience either filing for Arachnoiditis, or perhaps one of the raters here can provide any advice on how to best proceed if I choose to file a claim? Any feedback is greatly appreciated.
Below is the Impression of my last spine MRI conducted by the VA.
Impression:
1. Postoperative changes of posterior decompression at L5/S1.
There is however severe effacement of the left lateral recess,
with compression of the left S1 proximal nerve root. Please
correlate with patient's symptomatology.
2. Mild degenerative disc disease, superimposed on a
developmentally small spinal canal, with moderate L4/L5, and mild
to moderate L1/L2 spinal stenosis. Please see full report for a
detailed description of the findings.
3. Multilevel facet DJD.
4. L4/L5 right foraminal disc protrusion displacing and
compressing the right L4 nerve root. Please correlate with
patient's symptomatology.
5. Intradural thickening of the nerve roots, with no pathologic
contrast enhancement. Please correlate clinically for the
possibility of arachnoiditis.
Primary Diagnostic Code: SIGNIFICANT ABNORMALITY, ATTN NEEDED