"Spot" on brain in CATscan - what should I expect?
I'm a 47 year old woman who was recently hospitalized with kidney stones & a systemic infection. (This came in the middle of a divorce, and 2 wks before I have to be out of my recently sold home.) The timing of that illness was certainly bad enough, but while in the ER with symptoms including incredibly bad head pain, they ran a CATscan on my head and happened to find a 12 mm "spot" on my brain in the left frontal lobe.
The good part of this onslaught of stress is I'm just NUMB right now and cannot panic about the whole thing! The MRI is scheduled for THursday, and in the meantime, I've done lots of reading. I know the possible outcomes and that it's most likely a congenital cyst that's not causing symptoms.
Except, when I think about it, I have had cognitive difficulties during the past year. Trouble concentrating, trouble with memory, and vision difficulties. All of these symptoms can be accounted for by other issues - stress - cataract surgery - but maybe I should not discount them.
My questions are this. In all my reading, I've not seen anyone with a cyst in the left frontal lobe. I wonder what brain functions might be affected by something so small. (the size of my little finger) If it's congenital, has my body simply been acclimated to some kind of deficiency in thinking, speech or reading ability since childhood, making it unnoticable? I've been battling depressive illnesses my entire life - and have read something about "pseudo-depression" when a cyst presents in the left frontal lobe.
And can there possibly be a genetic component in this? I am an adoptee who has reunited with my birth family - bringing me medical history for the first time. Strangely, my half sister is scheduled for an MRI this week as well, she has been suffering severe panic attacks and depression as well, and they want to rule out a brain tumor! We are eager to see what's inside both our heads.
Sorry if this sounds very clinical, but I truly am emotionless about this right now, but do want to know what I might be facing.
Re: "Spot" on brain in CATscan - what should I expect?
Spots on the brain can be caused by a myriad of things - migraine headaches, ms, lyme disease, the normal aging process, etc... The MRI will give your doctor a much better picture, and I know it's easier said than done, but try to relax:-)
Re: "Spot" on brain in CATscan - what should I expect?
dear sensibleshoes,
I have been in your shoes just recently,I have not been feeling well for quite sometime, doc sent me for tests, one being a Ct scan.
They found a "promenient bulge", doc said possible clot or aneuyrism.
Well.....I was a basket case for a month, that is how long it took to get a MRI. I had 2 MRI(one with contrast) Nothing showed on either one, but I was still concerned, so doc sent me to a neurologist.He confirmed that the CT scan was wrong.
I feel for you,they say that MRI is the best, so I hope you are in the same boat as I was.
Good luck
Re: "Spot" on brain in CATscan - what should I expect?
Had the MRI, and of course have no interpretation of the results yet. I was allowed to look at it and got a pretty good fix on where it is, in the rear area of the left frontal lobe.
IN the meantime, there's a new worry - the catscan to determine if the kidney stones were still there showed a tumor in my liver. They speculate it's a hemangioma - a benign mass that may or may not have to be removed.
Re: "Spot" on brain in CATscan - what should I expect?
Well the results of the MRI don't tell us much. It is not a cyst. The two words that stuck out in the report were Glioma - and Multiple Sclerosis. Ok that's 3 words.
Well if it's a Glioma, I know what that means. So I read up on MS and was more than frightened to see that I had a majority of the beginning symptoms. Now I know that you can really psych yourself out with self-diagnosis, and I'm trying hard not to do that, but objectively, there are really a lot of the things going on that they talk about. The sensations of electro-shock - bladder control - visual disturbances - balance difficulties - memory difficulties - the "word on the tip of the tongue" problem. The MRI also showed the systemic infection is still with me - now in the mastoid bone. !!!!!
Now they want to remove my gallbladder, as it's filled with stones, theorizing that it may be causing the infection to linger.
And I'm being referred to a neurologist. A lot of the websites say that getting a firm diagnosis is always tough. Considering how long they make you wait between these tests and appointments - I can see why!
