Should I worry about nonspecific white matter changes???

[Joiedecour]

Saw neurologist with various MS type symptoms (parethesias, fatigue, lightheadedness), and after blood tests all came back negative. I also saw same neurologist same time last year with similar, but lesser symptoms, and she did spinal MRI at that time, since everyone thought I had a trapped nerve, although I had no back pain. My most bothersome symptom is fatigue, and scalp tingling. Neurological exam is fine, EMG is fine, Spinal MRIs fine, brain MRI report "no acute intracranial process" and "nonspecific white matter changes." Further detail reads "There appear to be a few scattered nonspecific vague T-2 weighted white matter intensities which may represent vascular phenomenon." Neurologist's comment to nurse is "please let patient know MRI is OK for age."

Neurologist thought MS was ruled out at this point, but said "we can do EVPS, if you want," and then said, "let's do EVPs." She also offered referral to another neurologist. Her read on the situation is that the symptoms are not being caused by anything serious and so they must be benign, and that the paresthesias could be from a lack of stretching the muscles or from stress.

Background info on me. I am 43, I am healthy, exercise and eat well. I have also read that nonspecific white matter changes can be expected after 50, but I'm not 50 yet.

So I don't know what to do. Do I go ahead with EVPS? Do I get a second opinion first? Or do I just take the neurologist's opinion that this is nothing serious, and go about my life as normal? Does anyone here have any advice? Does this sound like it should be investigated further?

[Fantastikjack]

Do not EVER give up until you are satisfied with the results!  You control your own destiny!!

[Poppy7402]

At the time of the first MRI I had extreme fatigue and urinary frequency for almost a year, then sudden onset deafness (within two hours), tinnitus and extreme vertigo.  The only reason an MRI was ordered was because the doctors suspected a brain tumour.  At that point I'd forgotten to tell them about the fatigue and urinary issues.  

The numbness, tingling and pain etc came with the next relapse three months later.

I'm not sure that it matters too much who does the EVPS.  Where I live, it's done by a technician instead of a Neurologist.

Hope this helps.

Poppy

[Joiedecour]

Hi Poppy,
Thanks so much for replying. Really appreciate that. Yes, bloodwork showed nothing, and doc did panel for autoimmune diseases.
Would you recommend getting an MS specialist to do the EVPS? Does it matter who does them? Right now I have appt. with current neurologist to do EVPS, and I'm thinking maybe I should cancel that and see another doc first.
I'm also wondering how sensitive the EVPS are. Maybe wait 6 months or so and then schedule them?
Right now I'm feeling fine, but between beginning of February and end of April, I had a whole list of complaints. What kind of symptoms did you have before your diagnosis, when you were told you just had vascular changes on MRI?
Again, many thanks.

[Poppy7402]

Sorry, saw that you mentioned all your blood work being normal so scratch that comment.   :-)

[Poppy7402]

My advice is to go ahead with the EVPS and see a Neurologist that specialises in MS.

I presume you've had all your blood work checked for all the usual things??

Non specific white matter changes can be just that, or they can be something else entirely.  

My first MRI basically said vascular changes because there was no mention of MS on the MRI request form. The second MRI request mentioned suspicion of MS and although identical to the first one, the Radiologist report said it was consistent with MS.  I now have a diagnosis of MS etc.  

I think (and I may be incorrect here), your neurological examination being normal only means that you don't have a lesion on your spine or in a place in your brain affecting balance etc.

As you've probably gathered by now, diagnosing MS is not a straightforward procedure and it can take years for some people to be diagnosed correctly.  It may be that you are "too early" to be diagnosed, or you may not have MS at all - fingers crossed for that.

You may want to have a trawl through the health pages to the right of the screen to find out a bit more about MS before you start worrying too much.

Hope this is of some (slight) help.


Poppy