Im new to this forum.

I've developed and been diagnosed with TN since Jan this year. I jumped the 6 month waiting time for a neuro appt by going private initially.

The neurologist agreed it sounded like TN, transferred me to his NHS list and sorted out an mri/MRA for me. I got the results yesterday.

The letter confirmed that I have an artery in contact with the trigeminal nerve, most likely the cause of my pain. I will be referred to Prof Eldridge at Walton who will tell me that surgery isn't worth pursuing as I am mostly managed by my medication.

But it also says that it shows several high signal areas in the white matter in both sides of my brain. It says that they may indicate inflammation or a vascular problem but that the dr who looked at the scan couldn't tell. I'm to be admitted to Walton as a day patient to carry out further tests including a lumbar pictureand blood tests.

I'm not sure what to make of it. I'm not sure what the lumbar puncture is to test for, apart from to try and rule out ms.

Any ideas welcomed .