S Jensen
04-03-2007, 12:57 AM
Well, I saw the neurologist today. She said that unlike what I had been told, there ARE problems with my MRI. In fact, she listed several and I can't remember them all. One of them was "Hippocampal sclerosis". She also said my brain had more fluid in it or was more swollen on the right side (the side where the optic nerve is bulging)...not certain about that one what she was talking about. She said there may be a benign (actually she said "very benign" but I'm not sure how you get more benign than simply benign) tumor that the MRI was unable to catch. I have to get an EEG and spinal tap as soon as possible and depending on what those show I may have to get a more in-depth MRI up at the science hospital and a PET scan.
She put me on a seizure medication. I have to have my husband watch to see if I get mean and then I'd have to go off of it. The other side-effect is a rash that feels like a sunburn. If I get that I have to go off it immediately, people have ended up in the burn unit when they didn't. She put me on it before bothering with the EEG first because back in '99 I had an abnormal EEG and though I had a clear one after that, as she said, that just means my brain was fine at that point. A clear one doesn't mean your next one will be clear. Also, hippocampal sclerosis very very regularly is tied in with temporal lobe epilepsy. The spinal tap is because of the lopsidedness of my brain and hopefully will tell her if there is something going on with it.
Oh, and she said I'm not fat enough to be a typical candidate for what the eye doctor thought I might have (pseudo tumor cerebri) which was nice. :D Also, when I asked her about one thing that had me confused she said I was right. See, my right optic nerve is the one that is really swollen, the left is possibly a little, but not much. I asked her why it would be uneven if it was too much spinal fluid...seemed to me since the spinal fluid is around everywhere it should make both swell the same amount. She said it usually does.
She said that this may be more than one thing but it sounds first like seizures with maybe another sort of side problem along with it.
So there you go. I know I have a brain, it just isn't working like it used to.
My biggest hope besides not being dizzy is that this will make it so I can take better pictures. I have a hard time holding still. I took horseback riding and was the only one who was not allowed AT ALL to do bareback eyes closed riding because I'm so wobbly (I tried, but my instructor freaked out watching me). It really gets worse if my eyes are closed, I will almost fall over I start to sway so much. I've also noticed though that I'm more wobbly when looking with one eye through the eyepiece of a camera than if I'm just standing there with both eyes focused. So, maybe I can start using slightly slower shutter speeds!
Anyhoo...I could use prayer. I'm hoping that the easiest quickest way to no dizziness is what is wrong with me so that we don't have to do a lot more tests than the two that I'm waiting for scheduling to call me about already.
Sara
She put me on a seizure medication. I have to have my husband watch to see if I get mean and then I'd have to go off of it. The other side-effect is a rash that feels like a sunburn. If I get that I have to go off it immediately, people have ended up in the burn unit when they didn't. She put me on it before bothering with the EEG first because back in '99 I had an abnormal EEG and though I had a clear one after that, as she said, that just means my brain was fine at that point. A clear one doesn't mean your next one will be clear. Also, hippocampal sclerosis very very regularly is tied in with temporal lobe epilepsy. The spinal tap is because of the lopsidedness of my brain and hopefully will tell her if there is something going on with it.
Oh, and she said I'm not fat enough to be a typical candidate for what the eye doctor thought I might have (pseudo tumor cerebri) which was nice. :D Also, when I asked her about one thing that had me confused she said I was right. See, my right optic nerve is the one that is really swollen, the left is possibly a little, but not much. I asked her why it would be uneven if it was too much spinal fluid...seemed to me since the spinal fluid is around everywhere it should make both swell the same amount. She said it usually does.
She said that this may be more than one thing but it sounds first like seizures with maybe another sort of side problem along with it.
So there you go. I know I have a brain, it just isn't working like it used to.
My biggest hope besides not being dizzy is that this will make it so I can take better pictures. I have a hard time holding still. I took horseback riding and was the only one who was not allowed AT ALL to do bareback eyes closed riding because I'm so wobbly (I tried, but my instructor freaked out watching me). It really gets worse if my eyes are closed, I will almost fall over I start to sway so much. I've also noticed though that I'm more wobbly when looking with one eye through the eyepiece of a camera than if I'm just standing there with both eyes focused. So, maybe I can start using slightly slower shutter speeds!
Anyhoo...I could use prayer. I'm hoping that the easiest quickest way to no dizziness is what is wrong with me so that we don't have to do a lot more tests than the two that I'm waiting for scheduling to call me about already.
Sara