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Can MRI Fail to Detect Aneurysm?

Is it possible to detect or diagnose a mild stroke many years after it has occurred? I'm currently 45 years old, but about 18 years ago, shortly after my 27th birthday, I believe I experienced an event which in my opinion was very likely a mild stroke.

Back when the incident occurred, I immediately began feeling strong symptoms. I of course immediately went to the family physician seeking assistance. I was sent for CAT scan, which they told me was negative, and then later sent for MRI scan, which they also told me was negative.

However, from that very day of 18 years ago, I have nevertheless continued to feel certain symptoms very strongly. The first thing that I began experience from that moment onwards was very acute hypersensitivity to noise, which I had never previously experienced in all my life. Even the tiniest noises would cause me acute pain inside my head. Even today after 18 years, I continue to have significant hypersensitivity to noise, although not as bad as back then. Another thing was that I immediately felt sharp pain in a particular spot in my head, along with a strong feeling of soreness. That spot later became a "stiff spot" inside my head - feeling like a scab. Additionally, around that spot there was a cyclical feeling of local fluid buildup (bleeding?) as if there was a small pimple inside my head that was ready to burst. Periodically, it felt like the "pimple" had indeed burst and the pressure relieved. Then gradually over the following days, the "pimple" felt like it was growing again and filling with more fluid, accompanied by a feeling of renewed pressure buildup. This would happen cyclically, over and over. There was an intense feeling of congestion inside my head, particularly around the pain spot. In the weeks and months that followed the initial onset, a feeling of intense inflammation later developed across my entire brain, causing me to feel as if my entire brain was on fire. Eventually, I began to experience problems like garbled speech, and writing my own signature became difficult.

All of these symptoms/sensations developed before I got the MRI done. The neurologist told me that my MRI showed no evidence of any "iron deposit", and that this was the necessary criteria for recognizing any brain injury as having occurred. As a non-medical person, I didn't feel that I was in any position to argue with a neurologist, even though I continued to feel my symptoms very vividly.
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Avatar universal
You can ask a Neurologist to conduct a EEG and that might help identify any damaged areas within the brain.  

A second option is to consult a PhD degreed Psychologist who does EEG Neurofeedback.  As part of the EEG Neurofeedback, the Psychologist will conduct a detailed brain mapping to detect any brain operation abnormalities.  There aren't many of these degreed professionals so it will depend on where you live.  If you can name the state you live in and the nearest large city.  I can then do a look up and direct you to a website that can give you a list of names of qualified professionals for you to consider.  Personnally I would suggest the EEG Neurofeedback because there are a few other things that they may be able to help you with as well.
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Avatar universal
Hi,
The thing is that I've continued to suffer from some of the original symptoms all the way up to this very day. Some symptoms have subsided or ended - like when my head used to always feel strongly inflamed like it was on fire. But symptoms like my sensitivity to noise, feelings of congestion around that spot in my head, and an unavoidable tendency to fall asleep during the middle of the day, have continued. Occasionally, I have experienced an event while concentrating or when forming a thought or summoning up a memory - this doesn't happen and instead I feel a sensation of "pins and needles" - exactly right at the same "trouble spot" in my head. It's a very horrible feeling - a feeling as if some hardware is broken and won't operate. This event/feeling has happened not just while I'm wide awake, but also even while dreaming. I've tried to ignore and conceal these things, because I find it embarrassing and I'm afraid that if I take them to a doctor that he'll think I'm a hypochondriac or a nut - especially if I disclose that I've been suffering from this for 18 years without telling anyone. I don't know what to do - doctors are so quick to label people hypochondriacs, or as suffering from mental illness, etc. Is there any particular type of scan that might help finally/definitively prove that there is something physiologically wrong with me? I'm just so fed up of having this problem and would like to get rid of it once and for all, but I don't want to look like a fool or a mentalcase.
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Avatar universal
Hi,
I'm not saying that something didn't happen and it could have been a very small blood vessel popping in the right spot to cause the symptoms you felt.  The difficulty is that after 18 years the residue would have been reabsorbed by the body offering few methods to detect.
Ed
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Avatar universal
Hi, I want to explain that I remember the exact moment that the problem started. One night I was in my bedroom seething with anger after having a very bad argument with my dad. As I got angrier and tenser thinking about our argument, I felt pressure build up at a particular spot in my head, and I literally felt something bursting. I didn't feel good, and went to bed, and then when I got up the next morning, I felt like I had the worst hangover (I'm not a drinker). That spot in my head where it felt like a rupture had occurred was now sore and hurting sharply. I also had this sudden extreme hypersensitivity to noise. I remember turning on my computer, which normally emitted a beep during startup, and hearing the beep gave me sharp pain in my head.

So it wasn't some gradual onset of a problem, but rather it was specific point in time after which the problem/symptoms started. To me, that doesn't seem consistent with what a gradually growing cyst would cause.

Unfortunately, I do continue to feel many of the symptoms, even after 18 years. Right now, I can still feel that sore spot in my head.
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Avatar universal
Hi,

If your MRI was done much later then the onset of symptoms then it is very likely that any blood would have absorbed.  My Mom had a small bleed in late April and by August there were no signs she had a bleeding stroke.  So if your MRI was done 18 years later or in a couple of months later it is unlikely to be seen.  As to what could cause your symptoms some type of cyst comes to mind but I am not a Doctor so I can't really help you there.  A cyst formation and resolution could explain the symptoms you suggested.  Hope you don't have anymore experiences like that again.  God Bless!
Ed
Helpful - 0
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