MRI Results and a few other Questions....Please Help

[mschvusangel]

I just got copies of my MRI's and MRI reports and was wondering if any of you may know what it means.  I have figured out what some of it means, but not so sure about the rest. I will post a few of the slides a little later on.  It was done on a 1.5T machine.  

I have never truly thought I had MS, but I kind of figured thats what the neuro sent me for the MRI for just to rule it out. I do however, still think there is something neurological going on.  I do know there is something wrong and I have felt like total **** for over a year now. I am tired of being tired....lol  I just want answers!!

I am still having numbness in my arms and legs, along with severe muscle cramps (sometimes it feels deeper that just muscles) and a buzzing sensation in different areas of my body.  I have had lab work to rule out electrolyte imbalances, ect... for the muscle cramps.  My muscle's actually knot up (you can feel the knots) and you can sometimes visibly see them.  I am also still having the zap feelings in my neck and muscle twitching in my extremities.

Have any of you had the problems with the muscle pain and knotting?  I am at the end of my rope with all of the pain and no answers. I need help and it seems like none of the doctors listen to me!!!  It took me a year of explaining about my head pressure before I finally figured out what it was, and it was my eye doctor who figured it out!!

Anyway this is what the reports say:

C-Spine
-moderate reversal of cervical lordosis
-multilevel slight disc bulges from C3-4 to C6-7
-uncovertebral joint disease is greater on right at C3-4 w/moderate right neural foraminal narrowing and relative effacement of right lateral recess.
-craniocervical junction is unremarkable.

Brain
-ventricular system and basal cisterns are grossly normal
-vascular flow voids are normal in T1 and T2 weighted images
-mucosal thickening in ethmoids
-nasal septum deviation- convexity towards left
-post-contrast imaging demonstrates a developmental venous anomaly in left frontoparietal region


I also wanted to ask about bladder issues.  I have had waken up in the middle of the night a couple of times feeling warmth from urine leaking and try to get out of bed to use the bathroom and completely lose my bladder.  I didn't feel the urge to urinate either time and while trying to stand up, and while walking to the bathroom the urine just kept coming and I couldn't control it. Have any of you had this problem?

Thanks for reading and God Bless!!
Miranda

[motherof2ks]

Can anyone help?  I have had absence seizures for many years and the doctors really couldn't pinpoint the cause.  Well  I was in the ER last week where they did an MRI and CT.  They stated that the MRI showed Chiari Malformation.  But on the CT they wrote there findings as: consistent with ligamentous injury at the craniocervical junction with dorsal offset of the occipital condyles in relation to the lateral masses of C1 as well as a small fracture fragment seen along the medial aspect of the left craniocervical junction.  Urgent MRI of the cervical spine is recommended.

Okay...I did see my neurologist today who stated that the Chiari Malformation would not cause my seizures but was concerned with the above findings.  He said that he wanted me to see a neurosurgeon.  I have tried to look some of this up but it is way over my head.

Anyone have any idea?

[mschvusangel]

I haven't had a doctor to actually tell me they thought I had PCOS, but I kind of thought that maybe thats why my Endo was giving me the Metformin, just to see how it did.  He actually seems to be a pretty good doctor, he just don't want to tell you what he is testing or treating for.  He has actually done more of a workup than any of the other doctors, and usually seems to be listening.

As for the darkening skin, I don't think I have any darkening, but I haven't really inspected the back of my neck, but I have had a great deal of excessive hair growth. I have read about PCOS and a lot of the symptoms sound familiar, but they also mimic many other things too, which becomes all too confusing.  I didn't know that pseudo tumor was associated with it though.  I don't think it would explain all of the muscle cramping either, but it could also be a combination of things.  

I have been on the metformin for about 2 months now, and I finally started my period the other day for the first time in 4 months.  I have noticed since I have been taking it though that my blood sugar has been running much higher.  

None of the medications have made me feel any better, and when I take the Vitamin D, it seems to make me feel worse.  I know everybody around me is starting to think I am a hypochondriac, but I'm really not, I just want answers, and I want to feel better!  

It has been so long since I have actually gotten out and truly enjoyed my day.  I am usually so tired that I just want to be at home resting.  It's not a lazy tired either, it is a totally exhausted, don't feel like moving kind of tired.  I just keep pushing myself to go, but I am so afraid that I am just going to collapse one day...lol  My 9/yo and the rest of the family just don't understand how tired I am.  I am also in nursing school, so that makes it that much worse.

I know you are busy, so I won't keep babbling on. It just feels good sometimes to get things out, and I know most of you on here can relate.  

Thanks for reading, and responding!
Miranda

[shellywil]

Hi, I just read your post and I too have weird pain in my legs. I feel cramping although I can not really say that I have ever seen the knots. I am also tired of being in pain. I have just started posting tonight actually and to be honest I have not posted all of my symptoms in fear of writing a book. I wish you luck and it does feel good to talk about all this.
Shellywil

[Quixotic1]

You need to talk with Elain, Monotreme.  Her husband is being worked up for possible MS, but also has osteoporosis, low Vit D (maybe), and other low hormone levels.

I'll give her the heads up.  She's our local Vit D person right now.

Have you been evaluated for Polycystic Ovary Syndrome?  Do you have a dark, thickened area on the back of your neck, under your arms, inner thighs or under your breasts, by any chance?  Any problem with excess hair?

I ask about this because there is an association with Type II Diabetes, being overweight, irregular periods, high blood pressure, pseudotumor cerebri, and hypercoagulability which can cause small strokes (which then cause weird neurologic symptoms)

I'm sure some of these ring a bell.

Quix

[mschvusangel]

Thank you for your response!!!  I thought I was right on the MRI....pretty darn close...lol  I do hope someone responds to the muscle problems, as they are becoming more and more of a problem lately.

As for the pressure, they ended up with a dx of psuedo tumor cerebri.  I have had a slight peripheral vision loss in my right eye that may or may not come back.  I am now on Diamox for this, along with Vitamin D for D deficiency, Metformin for hormones, HCTZ and Norvasc for BP and swelling, and Atenelol for PVC's. I had all of the problems prior to taking all the meds, so it's not all side effects.  

I was dx w/migraines about 6 years ago, and none of the meds worked. Switched neuros about 3 yrs ago and was dx w/focal seizures. New neuro said no actual seizures on EEG this time, but there were abnormalities. My neuro  doesn't pay a whole lot of attention when you talk to him, so I'm sure he doesn't hear half of what I have been telling him. I do have right sided facial droop and numbness along w/my arm on occasions.  I did have some sort of sensory problems when he tested me in office w/safety pin (I couldn't feel it on my arms or legs until it got pretty far up).  There are many other sensory problems and strange things that have happened that I sometimes forget about until they come back. I may have mentioned other things in my other posts as well.  Forgetfulness is another problem as well...lol  

Could there be a possibility of a relationship with the degeneration in my spine and the low levels of D?  Just a thought...  

I am only 27, and I am now overweight.  Never have been until a couple of years ago. I feel like I'm 80 most days though.

Miranda

[Quixotic1]

Hi, there.  Your MRI of the spine, mostly shows degenerative arthritis (normal aging stuff)  There is one area that could irritate the nerve passing through it at C3-4.  this would cause symptoms in the right arm/hand.  The reversal of the "normal cervical lordosis" means that instead of the normal curve in your neck that bows toward the front your neck is actuallu bent bowing toward the back.  That is probably related to the multiple dics that have a slight bulge.

The brain MRI is pretty normal.  No lesions. There is an abnormal configuration of veins (the low pressure vessels) that you were probably born with and "probably" doesn't mean anything.  But, remember this is not my field of expertise.

The urinary thing you described.  I have almost that exact same thing.  It's only happened about a dozen times. It can happen at any time though is more common in the late evening and night.  I do feel a slight urge to go.  But, if getting up is not real smooth and quick (like if I trip over the cat), I also will lose almost the entire bladder as I try to make it to the bathroom.  I am really tired of mopping the floor at 3am.  I have only actually been incontinent and not awakened once.

Also, because of the spasticity in my leg, the faster I try to walker to the bathroom the stiffer my leg gets and the slower I move.  In the same way, I barely have any control over the sphincter muscle and the more I try to tighten it to keep the urine in, the tighter and more stiff my spastic leg is.  The urogynecologist who is in the Continence Clinic associated with my MS Clinic wants me to to special physical therapy to try to strengthen the perineal muscle.  This is the muscle that tightens the urinary sphincter, tightens the vaginal muscles and tightens the rectum - the muscle you exercise when you do the Kegel Exercises.

If you are becoming this incontinent, you need to see a urologist for evaluation.  Preferably it should be a urologist with a lot of experience with women and with neurological disorders. You might call the local MS clinic and see who they refer to.

Many people here complain of the cramps and muscle knotting.  I hope they will jump in.

Your symptoms sound very neurological.  What is you neurologist saying.  I have to go back and read some of your posts.

BTW - What was the pressure in your head?

Quix