BenW and Mark,

My understanding about DTI scans is that the very mechanism that they use is what makes it difficult to be precise about the details about a white matter lesion. As the DTI scan measures water molecules travelling along axons (correct me if I'm wrong), doctors can't specify what's going on where the fluid flow is disrupted/different from other parts of the brain. It could be that axons are damaged to the extent that signals can't be transferred over them, it could be that axons are twisted and thus are malfunctioning. Either way, it's a neural traffic jam due to (axonal) road work of some kind. You don't know what's wrong with the road, you just know that things aren't moving forward in your lane.


LMLS,

I'm really sorry to hear about your situation. In my experience, getting better comes parallell to learning more about how one's symptoms manifest themselves. Managing symptoms is key both for being able to go by from day to day and for getting better.

Reading about how you've lived what seems to be a very, very active life made me think of something: I've come to realize that before I hit my head against the ceiling, I was living in a way that was unhealthy in regards to how I was treating myself mentally. Thought patterns of insecurity and very high demands on myself triggered anxiety which in turn triggered pretty severe symptoms. I try to be more chill about things and therapy + meditation seem to be helping with managing anxiety. I'm not at all saying that you necessarily are weighed down by unhealthy thought patterns just because you've been living an active life, just that trying to chill out can be helpful when trying to overcome cognitive symptoms. There are no shortcuts. The physical recovery part can't be helped much by therapy or meditation, but you seem to be on the right track with your supplements.

People on these forums tend to be very helpful and they have helped me out a lot. 11 months after my injury, I'm back in university and I'm able to meet friends at noisy bars for over an hour now. I'm reminded of my symptoms very rarely these days. Things will get better than they are right now. Hang in there and take care.