Small Bleed, Big Deal?

[ncowleyc]

HI, I'm 32, female, toxemia with both pregnancies, smoker, overweight. I have had some wierd neuro symptoms since Dec. ' 06. Went to doctor, sent to neuro. Had MRI Feb. '07. Neuro said I had a small Arachnoid Cyst and small lesion periventricular but nothing to be worried about. Had more symptoms, blind for a minute in right eye about 6 times, after waking up. Was sent to Optho then Neuro-Optho for evaluation. He didn't see too much new after 2nd MRI in Oct. '07. He did mention that I had had a small bleed in Circle of Willis. I ran out of money to follow up. No insurance. We were looking for MS. My question is should I be worried about this bleed? He didn't mention any follow up things to do so I thought maybe it wasn't important. But is it? Been looking at dangers of bleeding in brain. Should I try to follow up? Still have neuro symptoms. Maybe from bleed? What do ya'll think? Thanks for any input.

[DrNoopurMD]

Hi,

Thanks for sharing your symptoms.

Face pain and throat pain can also be due to neuralgia. Neuralgias cause sharp burning pain which last for a short duration.
These pains occur due to nerve irritation and occur in the parts of the body innervated by that particular nerve.
Neuralgias are often mistaken for migraine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuralgia

You can discuss this with your neurologist. Keep us posted!

[ncowleyc]

My symptoms started with excrutiating pain in my left toe. That stopped, then my left leg had pain. That went away after a few weeks. Then my left leg had a numb patch that spread. I kept feeling like I was stepping in a hole. My leg was feeling weak. I felt vertigo, especially when laying down. Made me nauseated. I kept getting headaches, which I never had before. I had right side facial pain along with throat pain. All these would come and go. My doctor said pain was the nerves. Sent for MRI 2/07. Had tests for Lyme, etc. Nothing there. I felt better after a while. Symptoms never went away totally but I learned to ignore them. Neuro said maybe due to stress.

Then in August '07 my right eye started to bother me. I had some pain in my eye when I moved my eye and a headache above that eye. Had flashes of light when I looked around. Lasted only couple of days. After that I had trouble reading words on the right side of page, kept turning my head to read all the words. When I woke up in the morning I felt for a second that I couldn't see out of my right eye. Thought it was my imagination. After all the room was dark. How can you tell. Happened again. Each time it would last longer. I finally caught it as it was happening. I was asleep, my husband turned on the light and when I woke up the vision from my right eye was very dark. It cleared up after half a minute. Colors were darker and I could see a contrail when things moved. It was like having a negative of an objects edge just outside the real edge. Weird.

Went to Neuro-Optho, did tests. She found an enlarged blind spot, some high pressure in eye but within norm. Had MRI Oct. '07. We talked on the phone about the MRI. Think she was in hurry. She said I had 1 small lesion, an arachnoid cyst (no change), then she commented that I must have had a small bleed from the what the films said. That was it. She had to go so I didn't get to ask any questions. If it was anything to worry about she would have told me right? I am feeling better. Vision almost back to normal. Still have blind spot and color problems but contrails left, thankfully. Had same face pain, throat pain in May. Went to ER 'cause it was bad. After giving me migraine medicine, that didn't work, they finally cured it with IV pain killer and steroids. I keep having some tingling on my left arm and back though. Feels like goosebumps without the bumps. Just one more thing to ignore I guess. Thanks for your info. Hope to hear from you soon.

[DrNoopurMD]

Hi,

What neurological symptoms do you have?
I would suggest you to please cut back on your smoking and try to lose weight as both smoking and obesity are risk factor for stroke.
Also please get your BP checked if you have not done so already.
If the bleeding is excessive it can cause brain hemorrhage which can kill the brain cells due to lack of oxygen.
The symptoms would depend on the part of the brain involved. Do let me know if you need more information.