MRI results ...

[TM1488]

Hi. I just turned 30. Several years ago I went through a battery of tests after feeling weak, nauseous, having difficulty swallowing (6 months without solid food), achy, depression, etc. They said it was possibly lupus but my tests were inconclusive. They gave a wobbly diagnosis of mixed connective tissue disease and vitamin d deficiency. I was told to reduce my stress and eventually the symptoms subsided.

Several months ago, after a period of extreme stress,  it started again. This time bringing with it tremors in my hands, clumsiness, twitching in my right eye, numbness and tingling in my arms and legs, fatigue, mental fuzziness and severe muscle spasms. At first it was just spasms in my back and hip so my doctor sent me to a spine specialist. He performed several injections to decrease the spasms and as the symptoms started building he sent me for an MRI (w and w.o contrast) and performed an EMG. The EMG results on my hands were abnormal which he said could be severe carpal tunnel syndrome. The MRI results just came back and my doctor is out of town for the next two weeks. I'm anxious to know what is going on and very frustrated with the metal splints on both my hands.

Hoping someone could help me interpret the MRI report? The only results on the brain MRI that do not say "normal" or such is "There is no acute infarction. There are several punctate T2 hyperintensities in the subcortical white matter which are nonspecfic and not in a typical distribution for demyelinating disease." (Which I think means white spots but not typical MS?) The cervical MRI says "There is straightening of the cervical lordosis which is non specific and possibility exaggerated by muscle spasm."

Any suggestions?!

[Guitar_grrrl]

Hi, and welcome!

Ditto what Shell said...Your doc will be back soon enough.  In the mean time, don't get too preoccupied with waiting ( I know, rriiiight, as if...).   Keep the stress levels down...

[sllowe]

Hi TM,

I'm afraid you'll have to wait for the doctor to know what it means to your particular situation. Results of imaging in the case of MS and other diseases have to be correlated clinically.

While I do not feel you have to worry about MS, it will be important for the doc to drill down and identify the cause of your problems. This may not be determined by MRI results for you.

Straightening of the normal lordosis is pretty common in many people. We have natural curves in our spine, particularly the c-spine (neck), and lumbar area, and overtime, whether due to microtrauma, or natural we lose some of that curve. There are some excercises you can do with a towel to strengthen the muscles in your neck, and also if you watch TV in bed, that would be an example of how you can cause microtrauma slowly and straighten out that c-spine overtime. Try to avoid it if you do that.

Non-specific spots are just that. And, they did not follow a pattern to cause the radiologist to note on the report possible disease processes.

There are many causes of white spots in the brain, i.e., migraine, blood pressure/hypertension.

Hope this helps,
-shell