Help with MRI Results

I'm a 42 year old male that had a minor stroke last year in the part of brain that deals with searching for words.  Am moving from Maryland to Massachusetts, after I land a job.  Have been under a tremendous amount of stress lately and been having a slew of strange symptoms.  I was admitted into the hospital this past June for 3 days thinking I had suffered another minor stroke, apparently I hadn't!  The cat-scan and MRI came back fine.  Had some neuropathy in my face both sides and a lot of brain fog.  Living on the Eastern Shore of Maryland I have been bitten by deer ticks no less than 20 times in the last 9 years.  My blood test for Lyme's Disease came back negative.  The Neurology team noted that my reflexes on my left side seemed weaker than my right, but I have no noticeable weakness at all.

While up here in Massachusetts, I had an awful day where I had all kinds of neuropathy in my face, difficultly speaking clearly, memory problems, a headache, ringing in my head and brain fog.  It was the worst day ever.  I seem to have good days where there are few of these symptoms and days when there are more symptoms.  At my suggestion, the doctor prescribed me some antibiotics in case it is Lyme's Disease.  I feel as if I am loosing my mind and cognitive function.  It's as though I'm used to running on 12 cylinders and at times I'm only functioning on 2 cylinders.

The doctor also sent me to get another MRI with and without contrast to rule out MS.  Here are the results:

"TECHNIQUE: An MRI of the brain was performed  before and after the intravenous administration of 20 ml gadolinium via a right antecubital fossa vein, according to standard protocol.

FINDINGS:  There is no evidence of acute infarct or hemorrage.  The right cavernous sinus is heterogeneous in  its enhancement pattern, but without discrete mass.  A dedicated MRI of the skull base could be obtained to clarify, if clinically so indicated.  There is no evidence of abnormal T2 hyperintense signal to suggest demyelination.  There is very minimal nonspecific periventricular white matter T2 hyperintense signal, a finding of doubtful clinical significance.

There is mucosal thickening in the paranasal sinuses and a scant amount of fluid in the right mastoid air cells."

John

[Lulu54]

John, welcome to the forum here.  I'm no doctor but have seen enough MRI reports around here to be able to make a few comments.  There is nothing that jumps out of the report and screams MS.  

What I find interesting is the radiologist who read your films finds no damage from your stroke.  That of course is wonderful news but I would have thought something would pop up on your films as a history of that event.  I am so sorry you experienced that scare.

The sinus congestion is normal for most of us.

The frustration you must be feeling is typical - you know something is wrong but as is the case so often with neurological disease, it is not a straight line diagnosis.  The doctors will test and look and probe and hopefully have an answer for your soon.

In the meantime you are welcome to hang out here and ask all the questions you might have - we're well versed in a wide variety of medical arenas.

best, Lulu

[Karen99]

Hello and welcome.  

" A dedicated MRI of the skull base could be obtained to clarify, if clinically so indicated."  

With your symptoms, it would be safe to say obtaining this MRI is clinically indicated.  Are there plans to get this MRI?  

I don't know what the significance is of a heterogeneous right cavernous sinus except what Dr. Google says.  There's a lot of blood vessels that run through that area that can cause eye and facial symptoms.  

I am curious as is LuLu that nothing showed up on the MRI showing a previous stroke.

What are the Dr's suggesting for you at this point?

[JohnLeger]

What exactly would they be looking for based on the following?

" A dedicated MRI of the skull base could be obtained to clarify, if clinically so indicated."

Like both of you, I thought it was kind of strange that the MRI made no mention of any findings related to any previous stroke.  Is that normal?  Meaning, can damage from a stroke just disappear over time?