Please help as I need some answers

[akmartin]

I am a 40-year-old female.  

Start:
Outline 1/2 football of multi-color line of light in peripheral vision right eye (then left), pressure around eyes.  A line of pain at the base of both sides of neck & runs to right above eyebrows, cloudy mind, wake up with body tingling & buzzing in head.  Lights changed to dark spots.

Two hours into sleep woke: couldn

[brown eyes4]

hello i need some advice,i have a friend that has had this problem for three years and it has got worst in time like now,when she first started with this problem she would be doing any thing and all of a sudden she would go back to the appollo seeing people singing during this time she cannot move but can still react with you in talking it is a bad feeling she says and it scares her and it only lasted a few mins,after it is over she felt better and she would not have a nother one a week or so,but latley they have been coming stronger,last night she had three the first one she was up and felt it coming on and shook it off when she went to sleep she had two and jumped up and was scare to lay back down she said it is a bad feeling when it happens to her and it scares her,well today at work while feeding a client she had one she could not move but could still talk to you but not move and she started to shake and lean to one side,the leaning and the shaking did not start till today,some one took her to sit down and this one lasted longer than any of the other ones she has had well 30 mins.later she had several more till she just went to the emergency room,she had one in there and her boy friend got the doctor,she said she was on the bed and her boy friend and her was talking and she said she started to focus on the cabinets in the room and she had a deja vu when she was in the emergency room before and they was talking,her boy friend started asking her what was wrong and she said i am having one he ran and got the doctor when he came in he shook her several times she was still in one and he kept asking her are you alrigh...she said said yes it is over now,the doctor made her walk and she did well,he told her it was not a panic attack nor seizures because if she had a seizures she would not remember what has happened when she has one he told her he believe it is a mind thing and she needs to make appointment with mental health and they would refer her to a neuroglist and they would do alot of test to see what is the problem,he gave her some thing to sleep and told her not to drive well after she left she had another one and she went back to some thing that happen to her or where she was 2 weeks ago,do any of you know what this is,because she is scare when they come on her,she said it is a funny feeling and it scares her and she cannot move she is light headed,and now she is leaning to one side and is shaking and that never happen tiil today,will this get better and what is this we sure would like any help you may email me at ***@**** i need answer asap!!!!! and we do appreciate it so very much,after she has come out of it it is like it never happened but she can remember how she felt when she had one and it only last a few mins. and it has been going on for about three years but has gotta worse in time.she can remeber every thing while going through this and can still talk to you but she cannot move and is shaking and light headed and leaning to one side and now she has a terrible head ache,she has had migranes head aches since she was little could that had caused this!!please help us thank you so much any advice we are thank ful for,thank you so much.

[brown eyes4]

hello i need some advice,i have a friend that has had this problem for three years and it has got worst in time like now,when she first started with this problem she would be doing any thing and all of a sudden she would go back to the appollo seeing people singing during this time she cannot move but can still react with you in talking it is a bad feeling she says and it scares her and it only lasted a few mins,after it is over she felt better and she would not have a nother one a week or so,but latley they have been coming stronger,last night she had three the first one she was up and felt it coming on and shook it off when she went to sleep she had two and jumped up and was scare to lay back down she said it is a bad feeling when it happens to her and it scares her,well today at work while feeding a client she had one she could not move but could still talk to you but not move and she started to shake and lean to one side,the leaning and the shaking did not start till today,some one took her to sit down and this one lasted longer than any of the other ones she has had well 30 mins.later she had several more till she just went to the emergency room,she had one in there and her boy friend got the doctor,she said she was on the bed and her boy friend and her was talking and she said she started to focus on the cabinets in the room and she had a deja vu when she was in the emergency room before and they was talking,her boy friend started asking her what was wrong and she said i am having one he ran and got the doctor when he came in he shook her several times she was still in one and he kept asking her are you alrigh...she said said yes it is over now,the doctor made her walk and she did well,he told her it was not a panic attack nor seizures because if she had a seizures she would not remember what has happened when she has one he told her he believe it is a mind thing and she needs to make appointment with mental health and they would refer her to a neuroglist and they would do alot of test to see what is the problem,he gave her some thing to sleep and told her not to drive well after she left she had another one and she went back to some thing that happen to her or where she was 2 weeks ago,do any of you know what this is,because she is scare when they come on her,she said it is a funny feeling and it scares her and she cannot move she is light headed,and now she is leaning to one side and is shaking and that never happen tiil today,will this get better and what is this we sure would like any help you may email me at ***@**** i need answer asap!!!!! and we do appreciate it so very much,after she has come out of it it is like it never happened but she can remember how she felt when she had one and it only last a few mins. and it has been going on for about three years but has gotta worse in time.she can remeber every thing while going through this and can still talk to you but she cannot move and is shaking and light headed and leaning to one side and now she has a terrible head ache,she has had migranes head aches since she was little could that had caused this!!please help us thank you so much any advice we are thank ful for,thank you so much.

[breanna85029]

where can i find some pictures of what the  deteriation of the vertebrae looks like i need it for a school poject its due tommorrow please help me

[akmartin]

I understand what you mean about the Internet, but it is the only way that we have to find out about our condition.  We can either sit on our hands and do nothing or we can gather all the information we can, find a doctor that will listen, and insist on a resolution to our problem.

From what I have read from the many forums (check out http://www.arachnoidcyst.net/forum/ and http://arachnoidcyst.org/) that there are doctors who will do nothing for indivduals with AC.  You need to find a doctor who specalizes in AC.  The doctor in at this site http://www.nyp.org/masc/arachnoid.htm, which is the "New York Presbyterian Hospital" talks about treatment for AC that sound promising other than just throwing medicine at the problem with no resolution to the problem.

[litterkicker]

Sometimes the internet can be a bad thing...I am a 31 yo woman, living a fairly normal life as a phlebotomist.  Last April of 2004 my vision suddenly went blurry and then double.  I went to my family doctor about 2 weeks later due to the unstoppable shaking in my left arm. It was so bad that I thought something was wrong with my car's alignment. My doc decided that first i needed to see an optometrist, which just showed I had beautiful 20/20 brown eyes. Then I was referred to a neurologist. I had an EMG which proved normal and then an MRI on May 28th. It showed an extremely large aracnoid cyst in the back of my head, like if you put your hands together to catch a football, and two white spots the size of maybe nickels, one on the right side and one on the left of my brain. Apparently they were able to rule out MS, tourette's and some more text book stuff. My brain doc put me on so many different meds to control what he diagnosed as simple seizures and I ended up with Topomax which I am still currently on. He also wanted another MRI in 3 months and some others tests ordered. Then he passed away in a horrible bicycle accident.
I took it upon myself to go to a well renowned doctor in a big city near me. After telling me that sometimes this just happens to people and there is no explanation for my seizures, he stated that it was psychsomatic. Thinking that I was the crazy one and that the Topomax was the only reason I was slurring my words when I was actually able to get them out of my mouth, I stayed with him for another 8 months just taking the meds like he ordered. It's amazing what being scared and confused will do to you.
So, I told him I wanted another MRI, it's been almost a year and that modern medicine should have more answers for me than this.
The results came back.
The good news: The cyst hasn't grown, but he said it was congenital.
The bad news: I now have more like 10 white spots all over my brain.
Now, I can look all day on the internet and scare the bejebus out of myself, or if anyone has any ideas, I would love to hear 'em.
I have an appt on Tuesday the 22nd to hear what the doc might offer me.

current meds: Topomax 100 mg
              b/c pills
              Melatonin

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

I agree that you need to find a doctor or neurologist in your area who can treat this. It is impossible for me to come up with a diagnosis based on the complexity of your symptoms, over the internet.

Some of your symptoms may suggest migraine (colored lights, and pain). People who wake up and cannot move for a period of time may have 'sleep paralysis', a component of narcolepsy (a sleep disorder) - I don't know if you might have other features of this disorder.
I cannot comment directly on the MRI as I have not seen it. It may be an incidental finding but sometimes if very large, a cyst in the posterior part of the brain can cause some pressure symptoms, possibly compatible with your symptoms - you should get this checked out. Otherwise I cannot be more specific
Good luck

[DonnaM.H.]

My first thought is that if it were me, I would get myself to the ER of a research hospital post haste.  Even if it is a bit of a long drive.  Research hospitals seem to be a bit ahead of any of the other most progressive hospitals and your problem just might need special skills.

While some of the worst symptoms are sometimes very simple problems, sometimes they are not.....and need attention yesterday.  It's not something to take chances with.