This sounds like a terrible idea that will cause people a lot of worry for 1 day for no reason.

The disk is standard, but it's not recommended to look at it before a doctor walks you through it. When they found my wife's tumor, they didn't let her out of the building.

Did they inject contrast dye?

You have no idea.

No contrast dye.They called me Saturday to schedule it and asked me to come in late today for their next opening. My doctor had to get approval through my insurance first... To his seems insane. If someone needs a test, the insurance company shouldn't have to give approval. Anyway, It was just a receptionist and a lab tech there performing the MRI. They said they would send it to the radiologist and my doctor would have the results tomorrow morning. .

totally standard to get the disk

in fact, I still have one of my MRIs somewhere in the pile of other non-essential documentation, but never even thought to look at it myself since I haven't a clue to how to interpret it

that's what doctors are for

Cit,
Just saw this and I've already been to the radiologist and my doctor.
My brain scan showed gliosis and a lot of lesions in the bilateral frontal white matter as well as the periventrical white matter. Basically damage in my frontal lobe and wherever the periventrical is.
I'm being sent to a neurologist to check for/rule out neurodegenerative diseases (MS, ALS, Huntington's).

Sorry, M, good luck.

Thanks. I'm actually feeling relieved that it's not a brain tumor or cancer.
Those diseases all have the symptom of unintentional weight loss-havent had that yet, so I'm feeling optimistic!

Bi-Polar disorder does result from Huntington's though...

MLY,

Ugh. Hopefully things turn out alright.

M, you ever had a head injury? Any chance this is old scarring?

Whatever, I wish you the very best.

The only head injury I've had was when I was 20 and took a line drive to the face. I fractured my nose and cheeck bone and also had a red spot on my eye for a few years after. Never had any brain scans for that and just went to an eye/nose/throat doctor.

This is the sequence of events that I think have indicated something is wrong:
3yrs ago, I go crazy and get incredibly depressed
2.5yrs ago diagnosised with bi-polar type II
1.5yrs ago started have pain in my shoulder
6 months ago started having pain in my lower back and leg
4 months ago my muscle in my thigh started locking up
4 months ago started having blurred vision when I got hot
2 months ago the inside of my ear started going numb
2 weeks ago my face/tongue/lips started going numb
Now my arm and hand is going numb constantly

That's a worrying set of symptoms for sure, although some may be unrelated to others. Let's hope there's a benign explanation.

MLY,

FTR they don't have tests that rule out ALS. When all the other neurological disorders/ diseases are ruled out, you have ALS. And of course you don't want ALS, it is the literal worst. Best of luck on it not being something serious.

BTW, what did they say about your cerebellum? You seem to have left that out.

Sounds like what did find isn't great, though. Hope it ends up being less bad than it sounds.

Maybe better not switch job at this point?

GL.

Yeah, not switching jobs anytime soon.
Not talking about work other than this...
My boss is completely different now and really just being a good boss, nothing to complain about and things are going well. I need to stay put, save money, keep my good helth insurance, long term disability coverage and free life insurance policy.

I am not smoking or drinking sodas anymore. Don't know if those will help with whatever is wrong, but at least I won't be adding to the problem.

The neurologist I was referred to is booked up till December and I'm being reffered to another one. Jeeze I don't want to wait so long to start figuring out what's wrong.

Unfortunately that is rather standard for good neurologists.

So what is the sequence of events I can expect?
Wait a few months for an appointment with a neurologist and then they send me for different testing?

Well, it's usually the initial appointment that's the longest wait. Yes, it's an iterative process of logical deduction, but they are very specialized and good at puzzling this stuff out. I do think you should be able to have him thoroughly walk you through the MRI including anything you think is odd, plus ask "Is there anything I can do to right now." questions.

I'm not sure which specific further testing they'll need to do, but I can give you a heads up on the MRI experience; comparing your *next* MRI (maybe months or even a year from now) to this one will be important for measuring any changes--BUT that is incredibly hard to do since no two MRI's are ever lined up exactly the same. I *know* it will be hard, but seriously advise against trying to do that on your own. There is no substitute for a neurologist walking you through the changes he sees and which ones are relevant and which are just normal fluctuations. At my wife's current neuro oncologist, we actually go upstairs directly from the MRI and review it with the doctor. This is just their standard policy to keep patients from freaking out.

Thanks for the heads up Holiday.

It's time to get back on the grind.
I've started doing guided meditation for the past 4 nights right before bed. I seem to be sleeping much better.

- walked 2.6 miles yesterday (0.5 of it with a 77lb kid on my back)
- 20 min easy yoga session

10/14 log: (my app is crashing)

Breakfast-
1pk oatmeal
1pk cream of wheat
1tbs honey
4 eggs
2 slices sargento cheddar

Lunch-
4oz Red pepper hummus
12 pretzel chips

Dinner-
2 cups carrots
6oz pink salmon

To help with me eating out I am getting $100 in cash per week for my extra spending money.

I have been spending $400-$600 a month eating out.

My extra spending the last 3 months was $3462, an avg of $1154/month!!! I did take my daughter to dance camp, her birthday, and bought presents for 5 of my niece's and nephews bdays, but sheesh I've got to get a handle on my spending. It will be much harder to shell out $40 for a single meal in cash and as a result I will be cooking more at home.

MLYLT,

Where are the food logs of Oct 5th - Oct 13th?

I eat 4000kcal a day for $100 per week.

Stop making simple things difficult.

Dang that's cheap. I'm heading to your log to see what you are cooking up.

ETA: well I can't be eating crunchy gorditas and Ben& Jerry's ice cream

Made homemade turkey chili and got the calories using the Happy Folks recipe analyzer. I added cheddar cheese and sour cream. I'll leave the cheese out tomorrow bas it doesn't add much flavor.