IS IT POSSIBLE FOR LESIONS TO HEAL ?

[harrie]

HI ALL


if anyone could help i would really appreciate it. is it possible for brain lesions to heal if they are newly found, or found in the first few years, im 22 been diagnosed and the neuro said he saw spottings of lesions, didnt go into anything else with me, didnt say where they were apart from been on my brain scan, didnt say how long they may have been there. he has put me on rebif, so i am now wondering if the strong dose of steroids he gave me at the start and the rebif he has now put me on, could make the lesions go away? maybe im just been to hopeful, maybe i just need to face the facts of what iv got. any advise out there?

thank you for listening.
harrie

[mdavis101]

Hello Harrie,
I was just surfing the net checking on MS info, was wondering the same thing. I was diagnosed with MS 4 years ago, lesions cervical spine C3 C7, also 1 lesion frontal lobe of brain, and a small lesion occipital lobe of the brain. I have had 3 MRIs since being diagnosed, latest MRI completed last week, lesions still there.
During my initial attack I first complained to my wife that I was experiencing paresthesias that started in my left foot, but over the first week this eventually became worse up my left leg, then after a week the same symptoms began in my right foot and leg, until after about 2-3 weeks I had symptoms of tingling all the way up to about midchest, in all these symptoms lasted for a total of 8 weeks unitil they finally went away.Once I was finally diagnosed approx 4 weeks into the initial symptoms of that "tingling" I received IV steroids every day for 3 days, I was also started on Avonex. I have not had any such symptoms since that time.
I'm sorry I don't have an answer to your question, but just wanted to let you know that I have some of the same questions eventhough I am a physician assistant in orthopedics.
I will add this, that whenever we have patients that come in for xrays for evaluation of their knees for various reasons, that I have seen many patients with a really bad looking knee on xray that have absolutely no symptoms associated with the knee that appears the worst on xray evaluation. I guess what I'm trying to say is what is seen on MRI versus what is seen on physical examination varies greatly even with MS.
I have even spoke with doctors that have said that they believe there are some people that live their entire life and will never will be diagnosed with MS (as they are symptom free) but if they were to have an MRI of the central nervous system, there would be some who would demonstrate evidence of MS.
What appears to be interesting in reference to MS lesions, is the question is to how the body is able to keep the lesions from getting larger and larger, like on my MRI the lesions were only a few millimeters in size, why were they not several inches? In other words, something had to finally stop the lesion from getting larger, this may hold a clue in research as to what can keep a lesion from forming in the first place.
The world of MS research is evolving greatly.
New drugs are in the pipeline, and will soon be available for us to use.
Until there is a cure for MS, I believe the best medicine is what you and I are on, medicine proven to slow the progression of the disease.
Live your life to the fullest each day, facing the facts is a humbling experience, but knowing you are not alone, and the knowledge that there are numerous workers in the scientific field who are working for a cure should give you hope.
Take care,
hope this helps
Mark

[sllowe]

I sent up a re-post on Lesions that I think will help with this question. . .excellent interp and explanation from our experts!
SL

[Jazzyfizzle]

Hi Harrie,  I have been wondering this also. Or are they like permanent scars?


Jazzy