I have some good news. I got the results of the spinal tap and they came back negative. No trace of MS in the fluid. The doctor wants to do another MRI in January. Lyme came back negative but that only has a 20% chance of showing positive in the spinal fluid so they are still looking into that. I am going to go for a second opinion since I seem to have alot of lesions on my brain and they can not find a reason for it.

Hi Shiela!

I'm new here and haven't read all of your posts and aren't familiar with your symptoms, but it sounds like you might be in the same boat that I was in for years. I had some small spots on my MRI, was worked up for MS, mitochondrial disease, celiac, lupus, B12 etc etc... Everything under the sun except for what I actually had.
I went undiagnosed for a very long time. Eventually I found a doctor who knew about a rare complication of autoimmune thyroiditis called Hashimoto's Encephalopathy. Like so many other patients with HE, my thyroid hormones had always been completely normal. But my antibodies (which doctors usually do not test unless your hormones are off first) were highly elevated. I subsequently found out my thyroid was full of micronodules and was floored. For years everyone had been telling me my gland was okay.
I mention this because I think the HE explains all the tiny spots on my MRI. I don't know if what I have is considered "microvascular", but I do know for certain (from all the journal articles I read) that HE causes perivascular inflammation and spots on MRI.

So, I don't know if this applies to you, but I thought I'd share my story as I was absolutely stunned when I finally found out what I really had. Most neurologists do not know about HE yet!

Thanks soo much for that info! I was at my doctors yesterday tying to figure out what my next step should be. The one thing Iam sure of is all these symptoms started with my last pregnancy. Then the doctor realized that I had started synthroid 2 monts before I got pregnant. He looked up side effects to synthroid and low and behold I had almost all of them. He suggested that I go off synthriod and try Armour. I have a endo. appointment on Monday. Iam going to ask him about HE. Thanks again for your reply.

As always, the next step is more testing, testing for rarer and rarer diseases.

The testing for cadasil in a dna test that often is not covered by insurance. Medicare does not cover it either.

One other thing that I was wondering is if any of these lesions have been identified as calcifications at all? The other thing that immediately popped into my mind is blood glucose! Microvascular lesions in the brain are often a complication of diabetes. Have you ever been tested for diabetes or had any issues with blood glucose levels? This would really be something worth checking out, in my humble opinion!

Hope this helps!
Lynns

Hi, I too was diagnosed by MRI with microvascular disease. I had an MRI of the brain with contrast and it showed a 3-4 mm outpouching or bulge as I put it, in the distal and medial carotid artery. It was determined I had mild to moderate microvascular disease on the report. My history is I am 52and postmenopausal. I learned that a decline in estrogen can cause this. My doctor said the MRI showed vascular changes in the brain. Microvascular disease is more about the smaller veins within larger arteries that rupture. My doctor immediately put me on a 325 mg regular strength Bayer aspirin to keep the blood thin. She also referred me to a dietician to help me lose weight which aggravates this condition.

HI Cat 265,

Have you been diagnosed with Cadisal? I have been following your posts. My wife has a family history of cadisil and has started to show signs of negative behaviour. I would like to know more about the symptoms of this desease. CAn you help?