I was hoping to hear from you. I hope my kidding did not offend you. I did not take your problems lightly. Quix
Oh, lowly physicist....Don't ever doubt your own observations. You describe real cognitive deficits, and I wouldn't blow them off. I would probably have you start with a good and thorough neuro exam, but you likely need a good neuropsych eval. These are the ones who can pick up the subtle cognition problems that the standard neuro exam won't. Most often they are PhD's rather than MD's. Sometimes referred to as psychometric testing. It's really not as much psychological testing as it is an exam of the finer points of cognitive function.
I wouldn't trust your own reading of MRI's unless you've had lots of experience. The body, alas, is rarely perfectly symmetrical. Even so, meningeal thickening would likely not be the cause of cognitive difficulties. The causes could range from sleep deprivation (eg. sleep disorder), to metabolic (hypoglycemia) to primary neurological, to endocrinological..... I could probably go on for pages. BTW, I often have many of those same problems. Mine is neurological. It really is hard when you remember having a sharp mind, but can't always summon it.
Bottom line, never be your own doctor for fear of having an idiot for a patient. See someone.
We can't afford to lose great minds...or as the brilliant Dan Quayle said, when speaking before the United Negro College Fund, "It's terrible thing to lose your mind." (sorry about the political humor)
Seriously, let us know how your doing. Quix
I suppose I should describe/give some examples of the specific problems I have. Like I said, it is mostly attention related - typically (several times a day) I will enter a room do something (get my keys, wallet, go to look for something on the internet, or check my e-mail) and before I can do it, I will forget what I'm doing. I can't remember why I went to a specific room, or sat down at the computer, et cetera. Usually I have to think very hard (for maybe 20-30 seconds), walking myself backwards through my train of thought, to recall again what it was that I meant to do. I completely forget about appointments, sometimes even classes I have every week, I just forget to go to.
Once I was with a friend and we were going to dinner after class, and she asked where I was going - it turns out I walking the opposite direction of where we were heading, even though by now I know the campus like the back of my hand.
Another time I had a doctor's appointment at 10:30 - I looked at the clock, which read 10:30, but I thought it said 10:15. Later when I came to the appointment I couldn't believe I was late, until the image of the clock came back to me later in my head - remembering it, I could clearly tell that the clock said 10:30 - but at the time, I whole heartedly thought it said 10:15.
I frequently make spelling errors now that I never have in the past. I call them spelling errors, but much of the time I just use the wrong word - "and" instead of "an", "two" instead of "to", "down" instead of "doubt." Like when I reach for the word in my head, I accidentally use a word that is stored close to the one I actually want to use. Ones that sound similar, or the wrong form of the right word, i.e. "went" instead of "came." I blog frequently, so rereading my entries I have been able to notice an explosion of these errors in recent months. About half of them I catch immediately, but many I can look at over and over again and not notice - it looks right at the time.
Any ideas? Does it sound like a bloodflow problem, a neuroendocrine issue, a dopamine deficiency? I'm a lowly physicist, I have no idea.