Wendy Dedmon, age 16, of DeKalb, Ill., for her question:

JUST WHAT IS NEURITIS?

Neuritis is the injury of a nerve. Sometimes the injury is an inflammation and sometimes it is a breakdown of a nerve with little inflammation involved.

Neuritis may affect only one nerve or it may affect many.

When a sensory nerve is affected, the area from which the nerve cones may cause much pain. There may also be a sensation of being pricked with pins and needles, or the area may feel numb or "asleep."

There may be weakness if a motor nerve is inflamed. There could even be a paralysis of the muscles that are supplied by the nerve.

It is unusual for germs to cause neuritis, although the germs of some diseases could well do so. Certain poisons, such as arsenic or methyl alcohol, have also been known to attack the nerves.

Lack of the correct amount of vitamins has also been known to cause cases of severe neuritis.