I have a question for a friend. She has been experiencing some very severe symptoms over the last few months, and they are slowly progressing.

Symptoms include:
- Acute eye pain (behind the eyes)
- Hurts to move certain limbs.
- Weakness in arms and legs
- Loss of smell
- Loss of hearing in one ear sometimes
- Loss of taste
- Neverending headache
- Neck pain
- Feeling of buildup of some kind in upper back of head
- Burning sensation in head
- The pain seems to always originate in the upper back part of head.
* THE SYMPTOMS ARE BAD ENOUGH THAT SHE CAN NOT WORK ANYMORE ON A REGULAR BASIS. And there are many others as well, but those seem to be the major ones.

She had CT scans and an MRI scan done. They both showed nothing of note. Many other tests done as well, and nothing out of the ordinary.

Does anyone know if it's possible that an MRI and CT scan can actually miss a tumor? Especially a brain stem tumor?

Or is it possible that an MRI test can overlook a arnold-chiari malformation? For those who have ACM...does this sound exactly like it?

Any help with these symptoms or questions is appreciated, thanks.

How long ago were these scans done? If they were a while ago, she should have them done again. Have they done an MRA (A is for angio). And did they do the MRI with Contrast at all?

Have they done a Spinal Tap to check pressure and CSF labs? Have they thought about increased intercrainal pressure (ICP) at all?

All of these things can give her better insight to what is going on. She has a right to request these tests even if the physican doesn't intiate them, she can ask to have them done. She should get in immediately and when she calls, she should tell them that with her symptoms, she can't wait any longer. She can talk to the Physicians Nurse as well to get her in sooner.

Does she have a NeuroSurgeon that she is seeing or a Neurologist? I would suggest that she sees BOTH, this way she can get a wide view of things that could be going on and the neurosurgeon may see more things regardless of what the radiology report says.


All of these things can give her better insight to what is going on. She has a right to request these tests even if the physican doesn't intiate them, she can ask to have them done. She should get in immediately and when she calls, she should tell them that with her symptoms, she can't wait any longer. She can talk to the Physicians Nurse as well to get her in sooner.

There is just possibily too many things that could be going on with her, she needs to get in ASAP. Good luck and God Bless! Let us know what happens

Yep, that is what I keep telling her. Unfortunately she has no health insurance other than County Aid. And with a pre-existing condition it is nearly impossible for her to get on any insurance. She can't get a job that will get her on an HMO (which will ignore pre-existing conditions) because she can't go into work everyday.

She is slowly getting help, but the County Aid takes a long time. She has not gotten an MRA or a lumbar puncture, and I don't think her MRI was done with contrast because she said they didn't inject anything into her. I thought an MRI with contrast was only conducted if they found something on a normal MRI and then used contrast for further clarification?

She's also had simultaneous problems with a non-cancerous tumor flaring up in her thyroid, and she was in the hospital for a week. While in the hospital they conducted all the normal tests, and gave her a CT and MRI scan. Both came up clean (at least clean enough that the doctors didn't see anything that would be causing this). I assume that her stay in the hospital would have diagnosed intracranial perssure if she were suffering from that.

Her symptoms seem to fit what closely with an Arnold-Chiari Malformation. It could also potentially be some type of brain tumor. However, does anyone know if tumor symptoms are cyclical? By that I mean she always suffers from pain and symptoms, but sometimes parts of her will lose feeling and she will have difficulty with speech and then several hours later she will regain her speech and feeling. She has both good and bad days. Although bad days are becoming far more common lately.

I'm mostly just curious if it's possible for them to overlook a brain tumor or a chiari malformation on an MRI report? I realize anything is possible, but is it common at all to overlook one or the other?

really, I think anything is possible, its best to get second opinons and to ask questions, and to suggest possible diagnosis that could be missed so as to pay closer attention to her films. She may not be able to wait for insurance much longer for her own sake. In some instances, I've heard of a hospital forgiving debt, but she could also go the route of going bankrupt after all is said and done and just dealing with having not much credit or no credit for 7 years... but if she has some credit cards - I *think* if you decide to continue to paying those off and other bills on time and get a letter from the lawyer explaining WHY you went bankrupt, they will let you continue to use the card *I think* . I'm not totally clear on this one, Make sure a good lawyer were to give you all the facts on even if you can do this for this situation and whatnot, but someone close to me has been thru this kinda situation, but only for this person it was due to debt and a divorce. I know this sounds cruddy, but it may not be a bad thing for her own sake. Its just a suggestion, nothing to take on serious mindedly unless there is perhaps no other alternative. Also depending on her income and other variable, she may be able to apply for medicade. I heard for one person they were able to get it for a week for their situation, but I don't know what the situations have to be, might also be worth looking into.

As for the MRI, sometimes contrast can bring out things that are hidden that are not found in the normal scan, but you are also right as well in what you said because it can help further show differences in tissue, etc...