MRI confusion

[MrsHamilton7]

I apologize if this doesn't make a lot of sense.  My brain is very foggy and I keep forgetting how to type...lol!  

Ok, for a year now I have been having balance and vertigo problems.  I was diagnosed with BPPV in my mid twenties, I'm 44 now.  My doctors were thinking I might have Menieres disease.  I have been given Meclizine and Valium to take to get over my most severe vertigo bouts which can sometimes last several weeks.  I hate both those meds and would hardly ever take them.  I was given an MRI on 12/15/10 and told it was normal.  

I was still having problems so went to another specialist for ears who said I probably have Menieres too.  (I don't have insurance so doctors aren't particularly interested in me.)  Two weeks ago I started with another attack but this time it came with ataxia.  Walking is a problem, talking is difficult and finding the right words for things is hard sometimes.  So, I wound up at a Neurologist.  He suggested I don't have Menieres but have Migraine Associated Vertigo.  He sent me for blood work...normal.  He sent me for an MRI...normal (except...i read the report and it says...Two tiny punctate foci of increased signal are identified within the left frontal and right frontal white matter on FLAIR and T2 weighted images, unchanged from prior study of 12/15/10, a nonspecific finding of very doubtful clinical significance, but possibly representing minimal ischemic matter change but no new areas of abnormal brain signal are identified.)  If have read this forum a lot and aren't punctate foci of increased signal lesions?  And what about the minimal ischemic matter change...what if it is clinically significant?  I don't know.

Here is what I do know.  I need help.  If I look at the MS symptom chart I have many.

1.  Bladder problems-when I lay down to bed at night and start to relax, I have to get up and urinate 4 or 5 times before I even fall asleep.  I think to myself, you do not have to go to the bathroom, you just went one minute ago!

2.  Depression-I'm horribly depressed from being sick all the time and not knowing why.

3.  Dizziness or vertigo-constantly

4.  Fatigue-always, always tired

5.  Ataxia-just started with this

6.  Numbness or pain-my right hand goes numb a lot but usually only at the computer or when I am sleeping.  Sleeping both hands go numb but I always think of that as like a carpal tunnel thing.

7.  Muscle stiffness or spasms-I wake up in the middle of the night with HORRIBLE leg cramps, and when I am teaching ballet (I own a dance studio) my feet cramp constantly...but I'm getting old...lol!

8.  Short term memory is gone, shot, caput!

9.  Weakness-I feel weak a lot.

10.  I have another weird symptom which lead me to the ENT in the first place, chronic ear pressure/pain.

My eyes seem fine so far except for a few days of blurriness.

Any help anyone can give me would be much appreciated especially about the MRI.

Many blessings, Kimberly

[MrsHamilton7]

Thank you for your reply:)  The first was not done with contrast but the second was and it said punctate foci of increased signal.  I guess "increased signal" means glowing?

[kwarendorf]

I have a sister named Kimberly :-)

Sorry things seem to be getting away from you at the moment. I'm not a doc, and not much good at interpreting radiology reports. Many of the things you describe could certainly be attributed to MS. Bladder issues, vertigo, fatigue, muscle spasms, cog fog and muscle weakness are some of the usual suspects when it comes to MS symptoms. I had/have all but the vertigo :-)

The reality is that these same symptoms can be caused by may other things as well. Plumbing the depths of my less than vast knowledge, ischemia seems to relate to blood flow and ischemic matter change might be caused by things like migraines and mini strokes.

The blood work done in conjunction with an MS diagnosis is generally done to rule out other causes of presenting symptoms, like Lyme disease. Do you know what blood tests were done? It's good that you have a baseline MRI from 2010, and that the recent MRI did not show any significant changes. Do you know if either, or both, studies were done both with and without contrast? Doing MRI's both ways helps age changes, as new lesions glow when the contrast is added.

Welcome to our little group, but sorry you came looking for us!

Kyle