# MRI Shows Brain Is Litteraly Shrinking - Atrophy



## funky2 (May 24, 2008)

Has anyone here had an MRI of the brain?

i had it done, and it shows that my brain is actually shrinking.

I was told that everyone loses brain matter over the course of their lives, but my brain has shrunk about as much as a 65 year old.

Ironically, they were worried I had lyme disease... but I was negative.

If you have your brain MRI results or reports, please post them here.

I wonder if this is something we have in common.


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## Guest (Jun 3, 2008)

Er well I had one yesterday so I'll have the results end of next week - I had one a couple of years ago and it was fine.


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## Guest (Jun 3, 2008)

You need to dwink about a ship full of water *Thumbs up*


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## coffeecup (Jun 29, 2008)

interesting.. do you drink a lot of alcohol? (i know i do!) that can contribute a lot to brain shrinkage ..

is it me or does that sound something off ren and stimpy? (bit before everyones time maybe  )


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## Guest (May 20, 2012)

Firstly, how old are you? I'm gathering you are young.

The problem with an MRI like this is if it is the first one you've ever had it may simply show that is what YOUR brain looks like. It is good to have a baseline. But the best test to see if there were atrophy would be another MRI (identical to this one) done in a year or two years. Changes from YOUR norm would be noted.

All of us have commonalities in structure of the brain, and yet each brain is like a fingerprint or a snowflake -- no two are alike. This has been proven most effectively in most-morten brain "autopsies" -- and many have been done on both healthy and unhealthy brains, but not enough people donate their brains at death, and it isn't always easy to get a brain. I have a donation card for the Harvard Brain Bank, but that is no guarantee they'll ever get it. If I were in a horrible auto accident for example it would be useless for examination.

It seems awfully dramatic for a doctor to say you have atrophy. I may be completely wrong, but you would have other symptoms, and I have no clue of what.

I always tell the story of my mother who had Alzheimer's. She had two CAT scans and 2 EEGs when her symptoms were already clear that she had dementia (in her early 70s)

1. First CAT and EEG done in 1990 showed a "normal CAT" but an abnormal EEG indicative of dementia.
2. Second CAT in 1992 -- obvious atrophy and changes in the ventricles of her brain, but a NORMAL EEG.

I also knew her so well personally, that I was one of the few people who recognized insidious changes starting in 1985! It would have been interesting to have had a baseline CAT in 1985, or fMRI, but she was stubborn as an Ox re: getting ANY help. (She was a doctor herself).

*You really need a "baseline" -- then follow it up, as bottom line, your brain may just "be that way." I'd be curious if you could paste some of the diagnostic analysis here so we can read it. Just cut and paste what was seen.

I'm curious, and also curious of your age.

Our brains change throughout our lives. Every person on earth. *


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## Guest (May 20, 2012)

Also, more interesting findings have been noted in DP/DR in FUNCTIONAL MRIs, fMRIs. Not just a regular MRI.

Good grief, I just noted this original post was made in 2008. No response there. LOL.


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## society's parasite (May 13, 2012)

[quote name='Dreamer*' timestamp='1337530887' post='257552']
. 
To Dreamer, i'm glad that you posted you reply to Funky2 . I got a real fright when i read what Funky2 had written. I also have the feeling that my actual brain has deteriorated. I never had an MRI scan. But my motor skills are not comparable with what they used to be; my memory has almost gone ; thinking is hard (apart from the usual cycles) and sensory perceptions are dull.In general i feel a bit like an imbecile. Also i have had alot of painful stings inside my head and can reallyfeel there is something not right within the skull, an actual tension is there. 
Two years back, i went to see someone who has studied yoga for a long time ( i used to practise yoga with him) , he can sort of, step out of his body and 'visit' you briefly, and scan your energies. He did that with me too, i felt it happening, it was as if he sat next to me for a moment, while in reality he was somewhere else. My appointment with him was a few weeks afte that moment. He was very angry when he saw me and said a.o. that i was lost for yoga, that i was on the verge, that i had chance of becoming prematurily demented and would probably have a forestage of Alzheimer's disease( i told this in another post also, but i say it here too, because it relates to assumed 'brain shrinkage'.) 
If i wouldn't go and live differently, i would end up in a loony bin within a decade, he said.

I got a real fright then too. I did not dare ask for details, but i assume he has seen or sensed brain damage also.
I still think of it every day.
I do not dare to go back to him and ask for details, but i drew my own conclusion, that indeed my brain is fucked up, because it really feels that way.
I would still like to know what he precisely meant, though, and if my fear is correct, that he has been able to look at my brain and other inner conditions.
A few weeks after my visit to this man, i went to see a neurologist, who said that i was not becoming demented yet , but that was no reassurance.

I do not dare to go for an MRI scan because i can feel myself aleady, that the brain -as an organ- is just not in normal condition, it's way too tense up there - i hope this does sound familiar to some..

of course it raises the question also, how can a brain get bigger again, then. By training it a lot? By excercising the body a lot? These are just some ideas of myself.

--
Also, related to this, i recently read a report about a Japanese 16-year old girl who had been kidnapped and tortured by some young men until she died, 44 days after. Autopsy revealed, a.o. ,brain shrinkage. I can imagine that slow mental torture over years, as i'm sure some DP-sufferers (have) experience(d), can also cause brain damage.
I would like to know how other people think about this.


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## Guest (May 20, 2012)

SocialP,

I went to PubMed and looked for articles on brain atrophy. It is very common in Alzheimer's, Multiple Sclerosis, and other neurological/metabolic disorders. In the research at the IoP I don't recall reading anything about atrophy from DP/DR. It's an entirely different problem -- what, we still don't fully know.

I will say that I recall some research has indicated that chronic anxiety (which I have) could cause shrinkage of the hippocampus (?) ... GAH ... I forgot. But the question is always ... did the chronic anxiety CAUSE what seems to be a "smaller than average" hippocampus, or was one born with a "smaller than average" hippocampus which predisposed you to anxiety.

There is so much research going on into all of these issues, but I highly doubt any of this information (sorry, the yoga individual doesn't strike me as being at all reliable on this one) points to outright "damage" or major changes in the brain.

I wouldn't be concerned about something like that.

Yes, stress affects the brain and other organs. All forms of stress. But not ALL individuals subjected to stress and trauma end up with degenerative disorders or DP/DR. I came from a pretty abusive family, but there are many others who have come from what I would think was worse and they don't have DP/DR, etc. And there are individuals who have DP/DR for no good reason at all. At this point I am back to thinking I inherited the predisposition to all of this mess I have (depression, anxiety, DPD). My abuse was just an unfortunate double kick in the head. I still don't know if they are or are not related. And every professional I've seen over 40 some odd years says "Nature/Nurture? -- we really don't know."

The most recent research on DP/DR ... well, I don't recall one word in Dr. Sierra's textbook about brain "damage" atrophy. Something is not functioning properly, and I don't think we have imaging equipment advanced enough to really see what's going on. And post-mortem autopsies are about the best way to see brain changes (save very dramatic ones where you see serious deterioration of the ventricles on a scan, or serious changes that truly look abnormal ... dramatically so.)

I have what seem to be memory problems, coordination problems, etc. But these could easily be attributed to anxiety and depression. Even some medication I'm on. Also, if you've taken a rec drug, I'd gather you could have these symptoms.

Atrophy as I understand it is more associated with Alzheimer's/other dementias, Multiple Sclerosiss, etc. True overall loss of brain function over time is the result and it is dramatic.

There are other organs aside from the hippocampus and of course I forgot what they are. These could be smaller due to chronic stress/anxiety. Darn. It will come to me in an hour.


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## forestx5 (Aug 29, 2008)

I recently had a 3.0 Tesla MRI with epilepsy protocol. The MRI was done "sans" indications. The radiologist who analyzed the results was unaware of any symptoms. There is an ugly story behind this, but I won't get into it. As background, I had a trauma as a teen which I would not understand for 40 years. (I am now 57). Just prior to my self referral for the MRI, I conclusively identified that trauma as a temporal lobe seizure. That seizure left me with a lifetime of somatic and emotional deficits (recurring major depression, panic attacks/spells and the onset of frequent opthalmic migraines).
Through my own research of google medical texts, I suspect that the seizure that I suffered as a teen caused high intra-cranial pressure, which precipitated the lesions. Those lesions would be responsible for the chronic symptoms I began to experience following the seizure at age 17. 
The results of my MRI did reveal lesions which the radiologist deemed "unremarkable" due to my age. If such lesions are found in the 5th decade of life, they are deemed to be unremarkable.
These lesions are correlated to some of my symptoms. (migraines). However, recent clinical research establishes a correlation between post seizure onset of major depression, and developement of lesions due to seizure. 
Neurological history aside, they are now having difficulty figuring out why EEG shows my dominant temporal lobe to have "significant intermittent delta wave slowing". My subjective experience is of little concern to them. Oh well. At 57. what difference does it make. I was only trying to help them understand the process. I know how it works. I lived it.


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