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Can Lyme cause cerebral atrophy?

When my neurologist looked at my CT scan, the one thing he did say he saw was what he called "volume shrinkage," which I'm guessing is the same thing as atrophy. He asked me if I had a history of heavy alcohol or drug use, and I told him I have neither. So he was like, "Well, that's okay, though. Some people just have that."

I find it hard to accept that, with the way my head hurts ALL of the time and all of the cognitive issues I've developed over the course of the past fiveish years that I never used to have, that that is just something normal and insignificant that my brain decided to do. Something had to cause that, and I imagine it has a lot to do with the fact that I feel like I can never think straight or remember much of anything anymore.
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1763947 tn?1334055319
It is awful how the majority of doctors ignore things. I just got out of the hospital, the hospitalist doesn't believe in Lyme and I left the hospital, after a week, worse then when I went in.
Did you check iLADS dot org?
I wish you luck and healing thoughts.
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Avatar universal
I know. :/ I just kind of sat there unsure of what to say back to him when he just told me that "some people just have that" and sent me home saying he would follow up with me in 5 months. I don't understand how you can tell me that I have something going on in my brain that you typically see in former drug and/or alcohol addicts and then just say "Well that's okay, though" and shrug it off despite the fact that I told you I feel like I can't mentally process information very efficiently anymore.

I feel like it isn't going to help me convince doctors that something's going on at all, though. I told my GP about it, and she was just kind of like, "Well I guess that's just the way you are." Maybe the new neurologist I'm seeing in 2 1/2 weeks will be different. I doubt it, but maybe.
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Avatar universal
I am amazed at the number of doctors who shrug off things that clearly are not normal when really, they just don't know why.

To me, it shows you have something going on that is adversely affecting your brain. It should help in convincing a doctor that your symptoms are not psychological in origin.
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