White Matter

i had an mri a year ago. some white matter showed up? they said it was not cancer nor a stroke bc of my age and it didnt seem to be anything like that. they said it was def wht causes my headaches and that i should see a neurologist. the neurologist hardley mentioned the mri. he diagnosed me with migraines almost immediately and put me on med. its been a year. the medicine ***** and i still have terrible headaches. i cant explain them but they are horrible! could last 4 seconds or 5 hours! i just wanna know whats going on in there? why do they hurt so bad? what does this lesion or matter mean?

[Nancys61]

Hi,

I am not a doctor. This is just my personal experience.

I suffered several mini strokes in 2007. After the mini strokes, 3 MRIs came out fine. I also suffer from increasing near daily migraines. I had a repeat MRI in 2009 due to migraines mainly on the right side of my head.

The 2009 MRI showed white spots on my brain that were not present in 2007. These were diagnosed as being typical signs for a migraine sufferer.

I think you need to followup with your Neurologist. Treating migraines is kind of trial and error. You may need to try several different preventative medications until you find the one that works for you. Please give your Neuro another try.

Good luck and keep us posted. Nancy

[Dr Sharma]

Hi there. Usually brain infarction occurs more frequently than expected in migraine patients, mostly in migraines with aura. Females patients with migraines are at increased risk of deep white matter lesions. MRI scans may reveal white matter lesions in young people with migraines and should be differentiated with white matter lesions in MS and those in old people, the periventricular white matter lesions. It should be assumed in migrainous patients if moderate to large number of lesions are present that these are due to migraines. Treatment with prophylactic medications is recommended. Hope this helps. Take care.