MRI reading 56 yo female

[sunnybiz]

I'm a 56 year old female.  Experienced complete numbness on left side of my body.  Dr. had MRI done with and without contrast.  Findings as follows:  There is mild diffuse cerebral atrophy and microvascular ischemic changes of the white matter.  No extraaxial collections are identified and there is no shift of the midline structures.  The sagittal images show a normal corpus callosum, pituitary gland, aqueduct of Sylvius and fourth ventricle.  The cerebellar tonsils are above the foramen magnum.  There are normal flow voids in the major vessels of the Circle of Willis.  There is no abnormal enhancement after contrast.  There are no areas of pathological signal intensity witin the bran parenchyma.  

What does all this really mean?

[TheLightSeeker]

Hey sunnybiz, Welcome to the forum.
FYI  Lipitor taken over time WILL cause cell membrane degeneration and nervous system problems, as most statin drugs do. I'm not suggesting you quit Lipitor, as it is not my place here to make such a recommendation.
I am just bringing this up as it is directly or indirectly contributing to your symptoms.
There's NO science to back up any claims for better heart health.
If you have enough Vitamin C in your body, cholesterol is recycled and any excess cholesterol is naturally converted to bile acid and eliminated.
My opinion may be in contradiction with the forum "etiquette", however people's Health and well-being is WAY above "etiquette" and other rules.  
Doubling of Lipitor is highly questionable and I would advice getting a second opinion on that (from a doctor that has a more open view in medicine-Holistic). What is you dosage at present?
Please take time to research this and reconsider your options.
Please post at the alternative section or pm me directly regarding your son's situation.
Take care.
Niko

[sunnybiz]

Thank you.  Numbness was brief.  Dr.  said she thinks it was a TIA.  I have hypertension that had been under control but under a lot of stress lately since my son was diagnosed with Stage 3 melonoma in July.  I think that got my blood pressure out of whack again.  She now wants me to go have an ultrasound of my coraid artery and she doubled my Lipator.

[Dr Sharma]

Hello dear and welcome to the medhelp forum. I would agree with Caryopteris about the fact that the MRI findings of concern are cerebral atrophy and microvascular ischemic changes of the white matter. These could be due to risk factors like hypertension, diabetes and increased cholesterol. It is possible that you had a transient ischemia attack or TIA, which can be a precursor of stroke.  Since the brain parenchyma does not show any pathological signal intensity, I would not think of a stroke. Is the numbness on the right half persisting? Get your systemic parameters like blood pressure, blood sugar and lipid profile evaluated along with an electrocardiogram. Close observation and control of parameters if disturbed is very important. MS would need to be investigated if other conditions are ruled out. Keep in touch with your physician/ neurologist. Take care.

[Caryopteris]

All the other findings equate to a perfectly normal study.  These are the only parts that are abnormal:  

mild diffuse cerebral atrophy

microvascular ischemic changes of the white matter.

From Wikianswers, the first one means:  What is diffuse cerebral atrophy?
It means a loss of neurons and the connections between them in the brain. Atrophy means loss of cells

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_causes_of_diffuse_cerebral_atrophy#ixzz1fPQv50EJ

The second issue, from ZocDoc Answers:

http://www.zocdoc.com/answers/3992/what-are-microvascular-ischemic-changes