Periventricular White Matter Lesions

I have two of them. I was told it doesn't look like demyelineating disease, but I still feel nervous. Is anyone here familiar with how often these lesions are associated with MS?

I have been complaining of forgetfulness and trouble finding words for the last two years. At first I thought it was my medication but now I'm calling it 'brain fog' because I have Crohn's and possibly Lupus. I don't think I have many other MS symptoms, perhaps tingling.

My neurologist was not helpful at all... I have severe migraines and she told me that it's totally normal! Well TO ME, it's NOT normal to have dead spots on my brain... Will I get more, how do I stop them? Am I going to get dumber? I want to be a professor, I can't get dumber! My neuro mentioned something about ischemia and migraines stopping bloodflow to my brain. Crap?

Thanks for your help.

Thanks for your response Gretchen,

Do you know if the lesions are associated with cognitive dysfunction in people with migraines rather than MS? Are there any preventative therapies to stop the lesions from forming?

This is the post I first saw of yours even though I answered your more recent questions first based on what I've learned along the PVM path.

I have found that I get better and worse. although the spots will never go away and you will basically get "slower and dumber" (that's from an online description by Chicago Dizziness and Hearing-- http://inmemoryofmysister.blogspot.com/

When I'm feeling my best, I suppose my brain is using new and different pathways around my dead spots, but if I get a virus or infection or have a lot of stress my latent damage becomes more obvious. Hopefully that who "we only use 10% of our brain" thing is right, and we'll just have to rely on our undamaged other pathways to be used.