Hi Irish-

I only have one lesion (that I know of at this point) and it's in my spinal cord. It was very pronounced. If I get a chance, I'll post a pic of it from my second MRI so you can see it. It's not as pronounced in my second MRI as it was in the first, but I bet if I had a new MRI it would glow in the dark seeing as I've been having a ton of symptoms...some new, some old.

Big Smiles :D

Jamie

Tamye: I took a look at the photos you posted. Can you post the ones of yours that you are saying looks like these? It would really help others see what you are seeing.

I have some of mine posted to my profile. I am not diagnosed either, but there are a good many little spots. I hope that at my neuro visit at the end of this month he will order a new MRI so we can see if there is any change.

Good Luck Girl... limbo land sucks and is very stressful (which makes the symptoms worse!)

Lisa

Irish... I am concerned looking at your MRI.

Mine looks much more like Lisa's - distinct circular white spots. Mine are a little larger and brighter, but NOTHING like yours which are big and scary looking to me. I get nervous with my medium size circular white spots but you have some large spots and they aren't the cirucular ones but more widespread.. I don't know what that means but I would DEFINITELY get a second opinion because that MRI clearly is showing a lot of damage - MS related or not they should be taking it seriously.

Best of luck to you. If I can get my MRI pics up, I will let you know.

Shelley: The MRI's Tamye posted are not hers. They are ones she got off the internet through a search. I was hoping she would post hers so we could see what she is seeing in them.

Lisa, thanks for clarifying, I feel better now!

Tamye, I would third posting yours if you can. Even a slight difference between yours and the ones that you've posted could make a huge difference.

I'm feeling your frustration. :-(

I just want to say to everyone what my old neuro said to me. It is not how many lesions, it is where they are. A tiny spot in a critical area makes a big difference. Furthermore he said there is more to look for than lesions on an MRI scan. That is only part of the picture.

I know everyone is worried but you can't possibly take on the role of a neuro or radiologist with 8-10 yrs of advanced medical training. You will drive yourself crazy.

Just had to say it folks. Trust and question the people who are doing this interpretation for you. And the written report will give you far more info than looking at MRI's.

Melanie

Thanks to everyone who answered!!

I still do not have my MRI images. I have been sick all this past week -- chronic fatigue and cytomegalovirus acting up at the same time!! They are so mean to me sometimes!! Anyway, I don't know what caused it but I also had 2 migraines and I have not had migraines in over 20 years folks!! Ohhhh they do hurt!!!

Anyway, much better now. I will get the images this week when I pick them up from my internist. I will be taking them to my special opthothomalogist so he can look at the eye part. he is thinking I have Graves Disease because my left eye (why am I not surprised it is the LEFT eye???) protrudes more than the right eye. So I will be getting some thyroid tests done also. Oh joy.

I will post my pix when I get the CD/DVD (I dont know what to call it) back and can figure out how to put them on my profile pix.
**********REPORT***********Here is what the report part of the MRI said about my brain findings: A few small foci of T2 signal abnormality in the perventricular and subcortical white matter should represent old small vessel ischemic damage. No evidence of acute ischemia. No hemorrhage is present. No mass lesion is present. No pathologic enhancement is identified.********

Melanie~~~~I do understand what you are saying. The only reason I am so distrusting of doctors/radiologists/ANYONE in the medical field is for the following reasons: I was told I had RA and called my family and told them and bought 2 books on it and began a grieving process; 4 days later I was called back and told I did NOT have RA. I went to another doc later on because of insurance (same one I have now). I was still having lotsa joint issues and lotsa pain. Did the RA test and the value was 20 something. you have to have 30 at this lab in order to be dx'ed with RA. He told me that he KNEW I had RA because I had all the signs and symptoms and he would treat me as I did. However he only gave me Celebrex and Prednisone (Hey, the Prednisone worked though...) and then he called me up a couple of weeks later and said I needed to see a rheumatologist. So I went to one and she was really rude. She said I did not have RA but since I have Sjogrens I had a 4 times higher chance of getting lymphoma (uhhhh...dont remember asking her that....). So I went to another Rheumy. My BP was very high and he wanted to put me in the hospital....he was soooo nice. Then I came back for my test results with my husband and he did not even LOOK at my husband and did not EVEN take my BP and treated me like I was on the look out for drugs. He told me I had fibro and he doesnt treat fibro. End-of-that.

Then I have had to deal with all of this pain, massaging my entire body sometimes for 4-5 hours every night, limping everywhere I go, absolutely no memory and cognitive skills are gone, eyes kill me and I can barely read sometimes...my truest passion, and well tons of other stuff..headaches, stomachaches, that absolutely HORRID MS hug thing, etc,,, ad nauseum.... so despite all this every single doctor I meet treats me like I am either a) a hypochondriac since I am bipolar or b) a druggie since I am bipolar. All I want to know is what the HELL is wrong with me so that I can take the kind of drugs needed to help me live a half way decent life not to mention putting whatever it is behind me once I have gone through the grieving process. It took me 5 years of grieving for bipolar. I would like to have a few years of life left before I have to start the grieving process of losing parents, friends, spouse, etc....

So here is my final whammy from my current doc AND a radiologist and this happened on February 16, 2011 (last year). I had fallen and busted my head. Taken to hospital by ambulance. Had CT and bandaged my feet and ankles cuz they were badly bruised. Too busy to x-ray feet/ankles. Told them my doc would take care of it. Went to see doc next day. He had me go get x-rays. Came back in 2 days. He said that the report said that I had severe strains on both of my ankles and that they just needed to be wrapped. ****************Went to PODIATRIST 5 weeks later due to severe pain especially on my left (sigh~~) foot. He x-rayed my feet right there and within 10 minutes brought me the x-rays to look at. He showed me where my left foot had been severely FRACTURED in two different places!!!! Unfortunately the bone was already mending so that he could not do anything to help me with it. I will now have calcium build up and will have pain with this foot for the REST OF MY LIFE. Do you see? The radiologist was mistaken and my doc should have at least looked at the x-ray. Both were wrong and I have to suffer for it. I had to go to the same place for my MRI.

Anyway, so sorry this is so long. I am not good at being on boards because I write too much and annoy everyone. I probably should just drop out. I just wanted you to understand why I am so distrusting and so damned bitter. Plus my mom calls me "One big disease". And she probably means that literally since she always likes to remind me that I am getting "fat". Well, hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

Take care all and remember you will always be in my prayers!!!!

Tamye

Tamye, You have been mistreated from doctors in the past. So sorry for all your experiences and its no wonder you are not trusting.

From your MRI, A few small foci of T2 signal abnormality in the perventricular and subcortical white matter should represent old small vessel ischemic damage. THIS SOUNDS LIKE VESSEL DISEASE NATURALLY OCCURRING IN AGING PROCESS. No evidence of acute ischemia. No hemorrhage is present. No mass lesion is present. No pathologic enhancement is identified. NO NOTHING ELSE IN MRI. Of course you want your films read by a MS Specialist but your MRI report sounds "clean" and clear of white matter disease - MS. When do you see the neuro?

On writing so much in thread. Please understand it was all I could do was to follow you through the lengthy post. Thank you for spreading out the paragraphs. I have a hard time following lengthy posts because of my eye sight is not always focused. So thanks!

Thank you so much for reading through my agonizingly long post! I have been trying to make them shorter but it seems like my replies to the friends who have answered my posts always seem much longer.

My doc did tell me that he was very surprised to see the foci as it was usually something he would see in a much older person. Like in their 60's or 70's. He told me I had to quit smoking and needed exercise. As my dad died of a massive heart attack at 49 and I am almost 46 I figure that is some decent advice.

As for my images, I am still going to post them so that you guys can see how strange the white circles look. I have looked at countless Google images and have seen nothing like what mine look like. I did find a couple of references in medical journals that MS plaques tend to favor the periventricular area. It said that this area would affect gait and cognitive ability. Of course these are two areas that are very pronounced with me.

I do not know what to do or how to react anymore. I have been having those "MS hug" things on my ribs under my left arm almost every night....sometimes they are so painful they awaken me. Yet, I just lay there trying to endure it and telling myself its all a mistake, that its got to be something else. I am now trying to turn away from MS. I did this for years before I was finally dx'ed with fibro and CFIDS. I think it is a defense mechanism. I want my family back and there is lots of conditional love with them. For them, a healthy Tamye is the only Tamye they will accept. Texans.

I will have to take care of this eye thing this week. I have an appt. with the eye specialist on Thursday and he will have the test results of my thyroid tests. If these come back abnormal he will tell me I have Graves and schedule surgery to pull my left eye back into balance with my right eye. I will probably ask for a total thyroidectomy. Better for people like me who are already mentally unstable. If the tests come back normal he will schedule me for an eye MRI. I don't know what that is for.

as for the neuro.....after the eye thing is taken care of I do intend to gather whats left of my courage and call the office. He did tell his assistant that all I needed were the MRI's. The description of the MS hug is what won him over to wanting to see me I think. I dont think anyone who has not actually had that pain could truly describe it. It is horrendous.

Also I have looked at the MRI images of several other people including some on this board. I see several small white "flashes" that are circled. I had SEVERAL of these white things and I can not help but wonder what they are. Can an MRI not have good quality? Can there be little white things that show up just because there is not good resolution? Nothing was really explained to me.

Well I better let you go. This is too long again. See what I mean? I have not slept at all tonight due to extreme anxiety issues. I finally had to take another Ativan and it is kicking in and I am getting tired (finally). Thank you for your kind words!!!!! Tamye

Hi again Tamye. Im curious about the cytomegalovirus you have mentioned in a couple of post. When were you diagnosed with this or how long has it been going on?

The reason I ask::::: my middle son had this when he was in 6th or 7th grade. I was awful. He was out of school for 2 months. He felt so bad and had no energy to do anything but sleep. Coming from a very active child this was so scary for me!

If I remember correctly 50-80% of us are affected with this virus by age of 40, but very few ever have symptoms or even know we have it. It can last a few months but typically goes dormant and isnt a problem again. I hate to think that my (now 21 yr old) son might have to deal with this again!

About your MRI: Im sorry. I misunderstood something here. By the way you were talking about what you saw on yours, I thought you already had a copy of it.

My husband has bipolar disorder (severe), so I know how difficult life can be living with it.

Stress makes you sick, especially for someone with bipolar disorder. Extreme stress can bring on so many symptoms just in itself. I went through a period where I was freaking out because I wanted answers and it felt like no one was listening to me. Of course it made all of my symptoms worse and even brought on a few new ones. Once I accepted that whatever is going on will take time to diagnose and there is very little I can do about any of it, I finally relaxed a little. I do feel somewhat better now, even though I still have those days when I just want to scream at every doctor I have seen.

Take care and please. try to relax a little.

Opps looks like I am the one guilty of the long post now. :)

(((((hugs))))
Lisa

Why are you posting pictures of other people's MRI scans of their brains?

No one here is a qualified radiologist nor neurologist that is qualified to interpret what these pictures mean.

If you are looking for another medical opinion, I suggest that you find another doctor to go over your MRI scan with.

Lisa,
Thanks for writing. I would not worry about your son.I think the only reason I ended up with cytomegalovirus is because I got epstein barr virus a second time and it was very severe. Cyto likes to hang out with ebv, or so my doc tells me, due to this one can often find them together as double infections. Luckily my ebv is not chronic but the cyto is. I am sure your son will not have to deal with it again.

I am sorry about your husband.it seems that men often deal with a worse form of bipolar than women. Of course a lot has to do with hormones and a womans natural tendency to hold emotions in and men to simply ignore their emotions and become cold or angry instead. I used to date a guy with bipolar long before I was diagnosed and this is how he was and what his pdoc told him about emotions.

I have had my images but my doc has them right now.I will get them this week before I go see my eye doc so he can look at them as well. He thinks I could have Graves disease because my left eye sticks out more than my right eye. Its hard like a marble and my right one is squishy. Who knows? Take care Lisa and lots of hugs back at you!!

Hope,

I got the images off of google images and made sure there were no copyrights. If you have read this whole thread you would not have needed to ask your question. Also I do not trust my doc or the radiologists at the place I went. If you really care to know why then show the same compassion of the other posters and read the thread. Since I distinctly remember showing you true compassion and empathy before in a reply to one of your posts I am thinking you will probably do the same for me. Thanks for sharing......Irish Rt