Spinal cord lesions

    
      Re: Spinal cord lesions
    


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Posted by CCF Neuro MD on August 13, 1997 at 20:52:46:

In Reply to: Spinal cord lesions posted by Marilyn on July 18, 1997 at 11:03:22:

: I have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia.  During the process of finding
  out what was causing my problems--tingling, numbness, muscle tightness
  and pain--I had MRI's of my brain, thoracic spine and cervical spine.
  I also had a spinal tap, evoked potentials, and blood tests.  The only
  abnormalities found in these tests were 2 spinal cord lesions.  One was
  on the thoracic spine and one was on the cervical spine.  I can understand
  that my fibromyalgia can be attributed to the symptoms that I have but
  I can't help but wonder why I have the spinal cord lesions.  Is it possible
  that people who are healthy and have no symptoms could also have some
  demylination on the spinal cord?
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Dear Marilyn:
While it is not normal to have lesions in the spinal cord, such lesions can, at times, be asymptomatic. As you mentioned, such lesions are most likely to be demyelinating, although other etiologies such as vascular, traumatic, metabolic/toxic/nutritional, neoplastic,