Cerebral atrophy

[Habgoodie]

Hi. I am a 25 year old female and I just had a CT done. It came back showing mild cerebral atrophy and a mild prominence of the frontal cortical cerebral sulci bilaterally. I have a really bad memory and I am always forgetting things... I also have severe headaches all the time. I even wake up with them... what do you think? Everything that I have found online says that it is normal for older people to have this... but what about me?I am only 25. Does this mean I am going to have dementia or alzheimer's or something?

[Christopher R Newey, DO]

Thanks for using the forum. I am happy to address your questions, and my answer will be based on the information you provided here. Please make sure you recognize that this forum is for educational purposes only, and it does not substitute for a formal office visit with a doctor.

Without the ability to examine and obtain a history, I can not tell you what the exact cause of the symptoms is. It is also difficult to provide an adequate answer without the ability to look at the CT myself. However I will try to provide you with some useful information.

You should probably have an MRI of your brain performed. This will be more sensitive to evaluate the brain and its contents. Why did you have a CT performed? Do you have other symptoms such as numbness, tingling, weakness, visual disturbances, sensitivity to hot water, etc?

I suggest that you be evaluated by a neurologist. Being 25 years old is young to have atrophy and more information is needed to determine either why you do or whether or not the CT was overread.

Thank you for this opportunity to answer your questions, I hope you find the information I have provided useful, good luck.

[Habgoodie]

Also, I just now started having a burning sensation in my right leg... to the right of my shin bone from my ankle probably up to about 1/3 up my femur bone.... its painful and bothersome enough to keep me up I was asleep and woke up with this just now.  =(

[Habgoodie]

I am in the military so treatment and appointments, etc. are super slow and rare to come by. I will try and see if they will give me an MRI.

I had the CT scan done because I have really bad headaches all the time and when I told my doctor that I wake up with not anything that I am doing to cause them, he was concerned. I do sometimes have numbness and tingling of my hands but never thought much of it. I am always tired but I think that is due to being active duty military with 2 kids under 2 and going to school at night. No sensitivity to hot water, or visual disturbances. Also, no history of any Alzheimer's or anything like that in my family as far as I am concerned.

I think one of the reasons I am so confused is because my doctor (who is a PA, no offense to him but he's no DR.) told me that it was nothing to be worried about and it was most likely nothing. But when I got home and researched it on the internet... it seems pretty bad, especially at my age... so I am confused. I know it will be months before I get to see a specialist, much less ask to have an MRI... so I am hoping for some help from here.