MY name is Jen, and I need help with these mri results! Im scared!

[sweetnightmare]

PLease note, I have SEVERE hypochondriasis. Last month on the 20th I had an open mri for three month headaches I have been having which isnt usual for me, I still have them. Well this thing showed up on the MRI, they thought I had a stroke but later determined it was an artifact. However in the workup notes they talk about inflammation? I am really scared because I still have neck and head pain. They did a lumbar puncture with a WBC count of 14 and thought I was getting over viral menengitis and sent me home. My C reactive protein is also at a 2 at this point in time and my electrolytes are off. I hate this :( I feel dizzy all the time but it may be my hypochondria/anxiety. Here is what the doctor report said about that mri: brain MRI in Meridian, Idaho. This was without contrast and it was done on 03/19/2013, and the impression was subtle areas of equivocal high signal on diffusion weighted imaging, left temporal lobe, left temporoparietal and left thalamus, cannot entirely exclude subacute to acute ischemic change, consider working up for vascular disease with CT angiogram. MRI from Open Imaging as above. These images were reviewed with Dr. Peterson, neuroradiologist, in detail and it was his opinion that these findings are artifactual, that there are no evidence for acute ischemia or chronic ischemia otherwise, suggestive of perhaps an inflammatory process. "<--------------- INFLAMMATORY PROCESS, WHAT - from Jen lol" Brain CT scan of the head and neck was unremarkable as well.

[Daniel M Prevedello, MD]

Dear Sweetnightmare

I agree with Rumpled. Furthermore I will be happy to review your MRI free of charge if you would like.
Only after seeing these "findings" I can express my personal opinion.

thank you

[rumpled]

I am only a layman - but I will take a stab at this until the doctor posts.

Artifact means the machine *added* some dark or light spots. This can be that you moved slightly, some can be electrical issues (if there was a spike or drop in power while you were in the machine that was not evened out), some signal issues and other reasons etc. - all those are technical to the machine except for you moving.

In the film, artifact can show up as white spots - and those white spots can also be interpreted as "acute ischemia or chronic ischemia otherwise, suggestive of perhaps an inflammatory process. " - so my interpretation of this is that they saw some spots, but because of the way they showed up (perhaps on one set and not another, it was determined to be artifact and not a matter of concern.

Just FYI if you are having issues with sodium and potassium, they should look into your renin and aldosterone - both of which control those levels. There are meds you can take to retain sodium and potassium - I do as well. It could be, and I am purely speculating, a hormonal issue as well with cortisol as well. So I would find a competent endocrinologist. The key is competent - most deal with diabetes and don't have a clue how to test correctly for complex adrenal issues so you should find a university or larger hospital.