Hope everyone is feeling a little better today, now that the weather has cooled down a bit!
Now, I’ve been burying my head in the sand for the last few weeks, since my diagnosis. I read the consultants letter when I first received it, didn’t understand most of it, and set it to one side. Almost like I was trying to deny it’s existence, and I WASN’T actually diagnosed… I am now dusting off the sand, and trying to make sense of it. There are a couple of things I don’t ‘get’, and have googled, and searched the forum, but everything I find is far too complex for me to take in. I am due to see the MS nurse, but not until mid September, which is a long way off.
What are Aquaporin markers? Am I right in thinking that these are markers in the blood that show that demyelination has taken place?
Also, I have periventricular lesions, which I understand are in the part of the brain that controls walking and memory, but also have ‘Subcortical lesions’. I can’t find anything I understand on subcortical lesions. What bit of the brain is this?.. I am just wondering if knowing where it is will give me some indications as to what symptoms fit in with it, if you see what I mean! For instance, today I’ve had mild pins and needles in my right foot. They lasted a few hours, but seem to have gone now… I’m guessing as they were for less than a day it doesn’t count as a relapse, but it might be a ‘flare-up’ of an old relapse that I ignored at the time (blaming it on my weight, being unfit and getting older!)…
I didn’t have the spine MRI’d, but the consultant has also said she suspects myelitis, as I do get that ‘wonderful’ vice-like grip that we all know and love as the MS hug… Really, all that is confusing me is the Subcortical and aquaporin bits, as I don’t know what they are!