SEVERE memory loss and white spots on brain

[TheJIllian]

I am a 42-year-old female.I have been a stockbroker and worked on a trading floor since 1997. I am a single mom with two kids. I am a former severely battered woman and have sustained numerous blows to my head over the years. About a year and a half ago I really started having trouble with my job; my proficiency was not there.This was gradual and was just attributed to stress. As of May 2003 it became apparent I was forgetting things I JUST WOULD NOT FORGET!I went out on disability, and have not seen ANY improvement. I forget people, I forget news events. I forget constantly. From major to minor things. They are completely gone! I have left a store and not remembered doing so and suddenly find myself walking down a street. I have found my functioning decreasing over the last year. As a broker I used math constantly, I am now struggling to do basic math. For many years I have suffered from exhaustion, which has no known cause. All my blood work is normal. The fatigue certainly has greatly affected my life and no matter what I do to try to improve shows no improvement. I am not depressed, frustrated yes, but I do not feel depressed. I have had high and difficult to control blood pressure since 1990 as well. I take Lotensin for that. I recently had an EEG and MRI. EEG normal. MRI showed white spots on my brain. What are white spots? I do not think the symptoms are from stress. However, that has been what Drs. Have attributed all this as so far.

[misalof]

A related discussion, white spots on brain was started.

[Bright Feather]

Hi, I am 45, and use to be an Architectural consultant, used math every day, like you, and started forgetting how to do things, falling asleep at my drafting table, forgetting how to get to job sites, etc. That was in 1998. This led to being fired from a job where I was making $32,000 a year to start, based on past performance, and college intern work for an architectural consultant firm.
I had been hit by a car, on a motorcycle, in 1987, and had a severe head and brain injury, went through 3 years of speach and physical therapy and 3 years, after that, of counseling and college through the Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation, and watched it all seem to fall apart.
I didn't get my answer until last year when I went to my doctor with strange symptoms and upon doing an MRI 2 months into the diagnostic process, I got my answer. I will not tell you here, but I suggest you go see a Neurologist, which is where my GP sent me. I too had white spots on my MRI.
I am now getting the therapy I need because of my diagnosis, and I don't feel like I am grasping at straws anymore.
Please go see a Neuro and let me know how you are doing. Sincerely, Bright Feather

[ontherecord]

Sustaining numerous blows to the head over the years, with or without loss of consciousness, predisposes someone to dementia, characterized by progressive and insidious memory loss.  Head injury - even one -- or in your case,  numerous ones (like the ones boxers sustain) could conceivably cause early-onset dementia, but we'll see what the doctor has to say about that as it pertains to you.  We'll also see what the good doctor says about the white spots on the MRI.

Whatever the case may be, chances are your doctors are incorrect in attributing this to stress.  More likely than not, stress can cause, at least some degree, some types of cognitive difficulty, and chances are that in a 42 year-old, that would be a likely cause.   But repeated head injuries are not to be overlooked, and my guess the likely culprit.

[CCF-Neuro-M.D.-CS]

White spots on the brain can be many different things. Without seeing the films I can not tell you what they are. What a white spot typically represents is an area of scaring. Many things can cause white spots, such as hypertension, diabetes, migraine, inflmmatory disorders, and trauma to name a few. Again, without seeing the films I cannot differentiate these possibilities.

A consultation with an academic dementia specialist would be the most appropriate means to determine a cause for your symptoms. Good luck.