Well I finally had my MRI today and they gave me the disc. Of course the first thing I did was commence obsessing about it. The edge of my frontal lobe has a thick white coating but I assume that is probably normal. I think I saw several lesions, although they are no bigger than a pencil eraser. There were a couple of areas that seemed smudged, but weren’t round like I thought the lesions would be. Does any of this sound familiar to anyone? I think I’m on the tail end of an attack. Could that explain the size of the lesions?
MS lesions are only 7mm on average - not very big at all. Small white bits at the tips of the lateral ventricles are normal so ignore them if you have them. (The lateral ventricles are the lakes of CSF in the middle of the brain - dark on T1 & FLAIR scans, pale on PD scans, bright on T2 scans.) Any white outside the brain / on the edge of the brain is usually normal. Stick to looking at FLAIR and PD scans. T2 can be confusing if you don’t know what you’re looking at. T1+gad (or words to that effect - the scans with contrast) show “enhancing” lesions, ie active lesions, as white spots. MS lesions are typically ovoid and have clean edges, but they do vary. U-shaped lesions are typical too - these are lesions that hug the edge of the gray matter (the outer layers if the brain). I think I’ve seen just about every shape under the sun in MSers’ MRIs - white matter configuration doesn’t always allow for ovoid shapes. Remember that MS is just one of many causes of lesions and some causes are treatable. Hth. Karen x
Thank you. I will have to wait to hear back from neuro. I’m just going to make myself crazy otherwise.
Glad you’ve had your MRI, Jamie Mo - hopefully you’re starting to get somewhere now. Fingers crossed that you hear back from the neuro soon. Teresa xx