Symptoms of spinal neuritis, two aspects of manifestation

Spinal neuritis is most common in young and middle-aged people. The disease generally progresses rapidly and the patient's vision will be greatly affected, leading to vision loss. If it develops to the point of spinal cord damage, motor and neurological dysfunction will occur.

1. Symptoms of optic nerve damage : It is common in young people and can affect both men and women. Acute or subacute onset, rapid progression, and remission-relapse. Acute and severe transverse myelitis and bilateral simultaneous or sequential retrobulbar neuritis are the characteristic clinical manifestations of this disease, which may occur consecutively in a short period of time, leading to paraplegia and blindness.

In patients with acute onset, partial or complete loss of monocular vision may occur within hours or days. Some patients feel orbital pain one or two days before vision loss, and the pain is obvious when the eyeball is moved or pressed. Fundus changes include optic neuritis or retrobulbar optic nerve eye. In patients with subacute onset, symptoms reach a peak within 1-2 months; in a few patients with chronic onset, vision loss progresses steadily and worsens over several months.

2. Symptoms of spinal cord damage: Spinal cord involvement is more common in the thoracic and cervical segments, manifesting as acute or subacute onset of transverse spinal cord damage or ascending myelitis-like manifestations. Corresponding sensory, motor and autonomic dysfunction occur below the lesion. In addition, many patients may experience painful cramps and Lhermitte's sign (when the neck is flexed, an abnormal tingling sensation appears from the neck and radiates down the spine to the thighs or feet).