Confused: syncope,seizure, stroke,etc.

[jan]

I am 44,F,I am of good wt. and I exercise reg. I was very healthy until about 40 (although things started happen'g slowly in mid 30's). I seem to have so many strange conditions. Right now I am running to so many different types of dr.'s in a quest to find out why I am having syncope. I have been diagnosed with neurocardiogenic syncope (2yrs. ago) and I am being treated for that with beta blocker and salt tabs, but the fainting is still occurring and in a seated position and one had the appearance of a seizure. They have found evidence of a stroke on 2 MRI's (the 1st being 2 yrs.ago) and an eeg showed mild left sided cerebral dysfunction, so I will be having a video/eeg for a possible  seizure disorder. I have Inappropriate Sinus Tachycardia, so if nothing is found with the video/eeg I may be getting a Reveal Monitor (implant)to look for another arrhythmia. Now, my rheum is send'g me to a neurosurgeon because of a cervical spine MRI. This is where my question stems from: My rheum says that turn'g my neck just the right way can make me faint. Can that be? I was wonder'g if this could, also, account for the rt. sided problems I am having and maybe it is not from the stroke? Is that possible? And the dizziness (it's terrible at times)? Also, when I go see the neurosurgeon what test results should I take (there are so many and I don't know what he would need or be interested in)?
MRI results briefly: "...patient does have a slightly low lying cerebellar tonsil" (no deformity at junction),"...also noted...low lying PICA loop and this loop descends to the level of the posterior arch of C1"  "Diffuse bulge at C4-C5 and left paracentral soft disc herniation at C5-C6".

I apologize for the length and multitude of questions. Some welcome, huh? Thank you for your time and "Welcome".

[brina sue]

oh my email is sabrina_and_bob***@**** if anyone wants to email me.

[brina sue]

hi- i have nuro cardiogenic syncope too. how long have you had it? what does your doctor tell you about a cure or treatment? i'm on florinef, a blood pressure pill and tenormin which is also a blood pressure pill, word of warning though, the florinef will pack on poundage like you've never imagined. i'm also an insulin dependent diabetic. i'm still having syncope episodes, not as many as i was in the begining. i'm on s.s.i. because no one will employ a fainting person. did you have this problem? i feel like i'll never get rid of this. i've had eeg's that have shown seizure activity and then one that showed nothing. i had an m.r.i. and i showed a lesion on my right frontal lobe. have you had any m.r.i.'s? the nurosurgeon said that its not affecting anything so he doesn't want to do anything with it. i go back someime in the next three months for my year check-up. i thought i'd never find someone with the same thing as me. my doctor says its rare and research dollars aren't poured into finding a cure for it. any information you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

[mjp]

It may be worth your time to look into something called eagles syndrome theres a specialist in michigan who is knowledgable about this rare mis-allignment of the bones in the neck that cause symptoms similiar to yours. Hope things get better

[CCF-Neuro-M.D.-GS]

Thanks for the question. Sorry to hear about your problem and as you can imagine these cases are tough for everyone. I would recommend taking the MRI film to the neurosurgeon as that is what they will be most interested in. Sounds like you could have several things going on and that is always confussing - we like to see if one problem can account for all the symptoms. It is not uncommon that patients that have syncopy can have what looks like seizure activity during the event. Video EEG monitoring will answer the question of the sz. Most patients that we see in your age category that have syncopy it is cardiac in origin. It does not sound like the cerebellar tonsils lying low is significant enough to be causesing your current problem (something called a Chiari malformation) - but the surgeon should help with that. I assume you have had a heart echo and if not, that should be done. We do have a syncope clinic at CCF if an evaluation here becomes necessary. I wish you the best of luck, gs