Hyponatremia and Central Pontine Myelinolysis

What is hyponatremia? Information regarding CPM and EPM.

Archive for the tag “Magnetic resonance imaging”

31 Jan 2013

Identifying Brain Injury:

There has been a lot of attention focused on brain injuries recently. We are finding out more and more every day that minor hits to the head can lead to ongoing issues with cognitive abilities.

It’s been over 18 months since I experienced my brain injury due to extra pontine myelinolysis. It was very shortly after the injury occurred that the MRI images stopped showing the lesions that were originally there, but I continued to experience deficits.

Initially, I had an abnormal EEG, but subsequent EEG’s done 8 to 12 weeks later showed normal.

What does it mean when your images show everything has returned to normal, but you are still experiencing issues? Trust me, I had a doctor tell me that because my tests were now normal that my symptoms were not being caused by the brain injury.

This leaves you in a position of not knowing, and this lack of evidence in  current medical imaging/testing is what so many people with brain injuries face. Whether you were injured after a roadside bomb in Iraq, had minor or major concussions after playing in sports, hit your head after falling off your bike, or suffered from an internal injury like stroke or CPM/EPM, you may experience symptoms long after your injury. In some cases, your symptoms may become progressively worse, but the images don’t show any injury at all. Doctors rely so heavily on what the tests say vs what the patient says that you may face a doctor telling you that there is nothing wrong with you, and that is beyond frustrating and depressing.

This is what has caught headlines as more NFL players are ending their lives over their ongoing decline in cognitive abilities. They have gone through testing, MRI, neuropsychological exams, EEG’s, CT’s, etc and the tests showed that they were normal.

It is the frustration that millions of people face each year as they struggle to find answers and more importantly find help.

The most fantastic news that I have is that technology is starting to advance to the point that doctors can finally start to identify injuries that weren’t detectable by any other methods. This is such a relief to those of us who live with the consequences of brain injury. It is so unfortunate that so many doctors need to have this “physical” evidence instead of trying to help a person deal with the outcome of their injury. In other words, would some of those NFL players that took their lives still be alive today if a doctor told them, “no matter what the tests say, you have an injury and let’s work to fix it” ?  If they got treatment based on the symptoms that they experienced instead of being prescribed anti-depressants and anti anxiety medications, would they be here now? It’s a tough question to answer, but the loss of their lives had a purpose. It has brought awareness and funding to support brain injury research.

The purpose of this post is to bring to light some of the most current research on brain injuries. What are the new tests being done? Where are they being done? Will they help you?

One type of injury that we tend to not discuss often is “chemo brain”. Chemo brain is a term used to describe people who have undergone chemotherapy and experienced cognitive issues, especially with concentration and memory. Doctors have dismissed those symptoms as being depression, anxiety, fatigue, etc. They did not believe that they were caused by a physical condition. However, in December of 2012, several research studies using fMRI, PET and other scans, showed evidence that chemo brain is real.

Often, cognitive complaints were associated with persistent fatigue and depressive symptoms, making it challenging to sort out whether or not the complaints of poor memory, attention, and difficulties with multitasking were related to brain dysfunction or were merely a manifestation of an uncontrolled mood disorder.4–6 Many who complained were younger patients with breast cancer who had become menopausal prematurely with chemotherapy, and their experiences of vasomotor symptoms, nighttime awakening, and poor sleep might have explained some of their cognitive complaints.7

http://jco.ascopubs.org/content/30/3/229.short

The study goes on to explain the reasons behind why chemo brain (and in my opinion other brain injuries tend to progress). As I have mentioned prior in my blog and this research paper goes on to suggest, there seems to be an autoimmune response that causes ongoing inflammation and injury to the brain.

Concurrently, an increased understanding of immunology and mind-body interactions (psychoneuroimmunology) has made us more aware that events in the body (tissue trauma and inflammation from surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and biologic and targeted therapies) can trigger systemic inflammation with secondary effects on the CNS.21,22In parallel, stress and cognitive threats can have direct effects on the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis and the sympathetic nervous system, leading to systemic responses that can affect the immune system.23 In addition, immune cells, responding to inflammation can traverse the blood-brain barrier and increase local inflammation in the brain, affecting emotional and cognitive function without the need for direct diffusion of chemotherapy into the brain substance.23–25

http://jco.ascopubs.org/content/30/3/229.short

The technology used to determine differences in the white matter between the control group and those treated with chemotherapy was called magnetic resonance imaging diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). The women that they tested showed decreased testing ability in memory, concentration/ attention.

Finally, the DTI detected decreased white matter integrity in tracts involved in cognition in the women treated with chemotherapy with no changes observed in the two control groups; this suggests a causal relationship between the chemotherapy exposure, cognitive complaints, NP test abnormalities, and white matter changes.

http://jco.ascopubs.org/content/30/3/229.short

PET scans are also being used to detect chem brain. When I hear accounts of chemo brain, the symptoms they mention are identical to those that I experience. It is so frustrating to have doctors tell me that this is not real, and I know that this is the same frustration experienced by so many of us who are suffering from brain injuries of all varieties. It brings me some relief to know that more research is being done, and technology is starting to show the causes of what we experience. I recommend the following link to learn about PET scans in the use of diagnosing chemo brain: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/12/28/168141465/another-side-effect-of-chemotherapy-chemo-brain

A friend posted these links about newer imaging used to diagnose brain injuries. I haven’t researched all of these as it takes a significant time for me to read through information, but I really want to get this information out there.

MEG Scan – detects errant electrical activity in the brain. Used in conjunction with FMRI and EEG.
http://www.research.va.gov/news/research_highlights/brain-injury-090808.cfm 

Diffusion Tensor Imaging (used above to diagnose chemo brain):
Problems in the white matter—for example, nerve fibers that are not bundled together coherently or that have lost their fatty “myelin” coating—show up in DTI scans but not in regular MRI scans.
Huang says he hopes to eventually incorporate a third imaging technique, chemical shift imaging (CSI), also called MR spectroscopy imaging. This method reveals the distribution of certain chemicals in the brain—another potential marker for subtle brain injury. http://www.research.va.gov/news/research_highlights/brain-injury-090808.cfm

MRI Neurography – Shows nerves. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_resonance_neurography
Magnetic resonance neurography (MRN) is the direct imaging of nerves in the body by optimizing selectivity for unique MRI water properties of nerves. It is a modification of magnetic resonance imaging. This technique yields a detailed image of a nerve from the resonance signal that arises from in the nerve itself rather than from surrounding tissues or from fat in the nerve lining. Because of the intraneural source of the image signal, the image provides a medically useful set of information about the internal state of the nerve such as the presence of irritation, nerve swelling (edema), compression, pinch or injury. Standard magnetic resonance images can show the outline of some nerves in portions of their courses but do not show the intrinsic signal from nerve water. Magnetic resonance neurography is used to evaluate major nerve compressions such as those affecting the sciatic nerve (e.g. piriformis syndrome), the brachial plexus nerves (e.g. thoracic outlet syndrome), the pudendal nerve, or virtually any named nerve in the body.

There is also a new one called high definition fiber tracking. http://schneiderlab.lrdc.pitt.edu/projects/hdft

Finally, there is Tau imaging: http://www.sbir.gov/sbirsearch/detail/102432

I will try to add and complete more of this post as I research further and learn more about the different types of imaging, but it is exciting work for those of us suffering from brain injury. Hope is on the horizon for getting answers and evidence for why we continue to experience the symptoms that we do.

 

 

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Posted in Central Pontine Myelinolysis/ Extrapontine Myelinolysis and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
03 Oct 2012
3 Comments

Drawing a connection between general brain injuries and CPM/EPM:

A diagram of the forces on the brain in concussion

A diagram of the forces on the brain in concussion (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’ve said it before, but I believe it needs to be addressed further. Doctors do not know that much about CPM/EPM. Because there are only 2,000 to 2500 cases that are definitively diagnosed as CPM/EPM each year, there aren’t any “experts” that we can turn to. Because of this, it is necessary to draw understanding from what we know about brain injuries in general.

The brain is the most complex part of a human body, and the most interesting thing to remember is that we do not know that much about it.

Previously, it was believed that if you did not pass out from an injury (hit, fall, car accident) then a brain injury did not occur. Now, we know that is not always the case.

You can have short term to long term cognitive, physical or emotional issues from a simple bump on the head or even from whiplash.

So, let’s investigate brain injuries further:

The first type of more common and less recognized form of brain injury is a concussion. Concussion occurs when your brain is jostled, which results in impaired functioning. It can occur from a fall, a hit, a car accident, even from shaking (shaken baby syndrome). Generally, a concussion is determined from the symptoms that a person experiences. In other words, you may or may not have any outward physical signs of trauma, like bumps, bruising or bleeding. You may not even have a direct hit to the head. You may experience an impact to the body that leads to a jolt to the head that causes injury to the brain.

Concussions cause microscopic injuries that are generally not detectable by CT scans and do not cause pronounced bleeding of the brain. It is believed that the damage in the brain is from cellular damage. It is also believed that the damage to the brain is widespread. This is why if there is bleeding, it will not typically show on a CT scan because it is not significant enough to pool in one area to be detectable.

So, concussions result from injuries to the way the brain cell (neuron) functions vs having damage to the blood vessels in the brain that causes more significant bleeding. This type of injury is similar to the cellular type of injury that those with central pontine myelinolysis or EPM. You will also find this type of physiological type of injury with MS too.

The brain cells (neurons) may be severed completely in concussions or there may be physiological damage that is done that impacts the way the cell functions. So, the brain cell itself may be damaged or the way it works may be damaged.

What do I mean by that? I would compare it to when you have a neck injury that causes paralysis or a neck injury that just causes numbness and tingling to an extremity. If you have paralysis, the damage is complete and there’s little or no function to the impacted sites, and it can not be repaired. The wiring is cut and the signals can’t get through. If you have an injury that causes numbness and tingling, there is some information being processed, but it is not being processed correctly. This would be comparable to having a short circuit in an electrical wire. Sometimes, the information will get from point A to point B, sometimes it won’t. In these instances, sometimes your body can repair the damage.

(The following is a picture of a neuron…the cells that compose your brain tissue. )

English: Complete neuron cell diagram. Neurons...

I would recommend checking out the following link for a little more information regarding the physiology of concussions (http://www.cordingleyneurology.com/contuseconcuss.html)

Based on what type of injury occurs, concussions can be mild (a person does not lose consciousness) or severe (a person can lose consciousness or even slip into a coma).

So how do you know if a concussion is mild or severe?

Generally, hospitals will look at the person’s symptoms to determine how severe a concussion is and also on if the person lost consciousness and for how long. That said, symptoms may or may not develop right when the injury takes place, and because of typical limitations on insurance plans, hospital staffing, and resources, most emergency rooms will dismiss the person to the care of family or friends within a few hours if the did not lose consciousness from the injury.

It is suspected that there are 1.6 to 3.8 million sports related concussions each year. Each year approximately 1.4 million people seek care for brain injuries. It’s obvious from the numbers I just mentioned that a significant number of people, especially those who participate in sports, do not seek medical treatment for the injuries that they have.

It can mean that a person does not suspect that their injury is significant enough to require treatment, or it might be that people do not realize a connection between their symptoms to the injury that they experience. I believe it is the latter.

This means it is important to recognize the symptoms of a concussion. Typical indicators of a concussion:

Physical Issues:                   Cognitive Issues:  

• Headache                            • Feeling mentally
• Nausea                                  “foggy”
• Vomiting                             • Feeling slowed  down
• Balance problems             • Difficulty Concentrating
• Dizziness                              • Difficulty Remembering

• Visual problems                • Forgetful of recent information or conversations

• Fatigue                                • Confused about recent events

• Sensitivity to light           • Answers questions slowly

• Sensitivity to noise          • Repeats questions

• Numbness/ Tingling

• Dazed or stunned

•Seizures may also occur immediately or even up to a year or more later.

Emotional Issues:                           Sleep Issues:

• Irritability                                        • Drowsiness

• Sadness                                            • Sleeping less

• More emotional than usual             • Sleeping more

• Nervousness                                      • Trouble falling asleep

I HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend checking out the following link to learn more about the effects of concussion and other brain injuries (this is a great tool for those who have a brain injury as well as those who live with them)— http://www.brainline.org/landing_pages/TBI.html

Check out the following on how scientists are determining the function of how the brain works : http://connectedsocialmedia.com/5697/future-lab-mapping-the-network-in-the-brain/

It is also important to understand that you may not develop all of these symptoms, and the symptoms may not appear immediately after the injury. It may take days or weeks before the symptoms appear. It may happen a few hours after the injury. And unlike other brain injuries, these injuries do not typically appear on CT scans or MRI scans.

You may experience the following longer lasting issues in your daily life:

• Increased problems paying attention/concentrating
• Increased problems remembering/learning new information
• Longer time required to complete tasks
• Increased symptoms (e.g., headache, fatigue) during school/work
• Greater irritability, less tolerance for stressors
Until a full recovery is achieved, you may need the following supports:

• Time off from school/ work
• Shortened day
• Shortened classes (i.e., more frequent breaks)
• Rest breaks during the day
• Allowances for extended time to complete work/assignments/tests
• Reduced homework/work load
• No signiicant classroom or standardized testing at this time
Physicians and school personnel should monitor the student’s symptoms
with cognitive exertion (mental effort such as concentration, studying) to
evaluate the need and length of time supports should be provided.

The information above is from the CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/concussion/HeadsUp/physicians_tool_kit.html

Generally, a person will recover from mild concussions in a few weeks, but it is also important to remember that concussions can “build”. If a person, experiences a concussion and it is mild, and then experiences an additional injury, days,weeks or even months later, the injury can be catastrophic. It can actually lead to death. For this reason, there are new policies being implemented in schools and college athletic programs throughout the country that bench players for weeks or months following minor concussions.

Until concussions are understood more fully, I believe this should be a mandatory step for the protection of the individual.

Ok, so how does this relate to CPM/EPM? Concussions can impact any area of the brain, but as mentioned above the type of injury found in a concussion is believed to impact the physiology of the brain cells. It impacts how brain cells relay chemical signals, and this is true for CPM/EPM too. This is why there are similarities in the emotional, behavioral, cognitive and sleep symptoms of CPM/EPM and concussions.

I plan to research brain injuries further to hopefully discover answers as to why our experiences are so vast and different, and hopefully to determine what we can anticipate in how the injury responds to treatments.

Have a great night!

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Posted in Central Pontine Myelinolysis/ Extrapontine Myelinolysis and tagged , , , , , , , , ,
21 Apr 2012

A large number of case reports regarding CPM/EPM:

This post is going to list a website that I found regarding dozens of case reports regarding CPM/EPM.

I was really surprised that these case reports, though brief, do correlate to many of my previous descriptions of symptoms associated with CPM/EPM. I do not know where these case reports were cited from, and I wish that there were more detailed accounts, but we have to work with what we have. The following information comes from this link: http://www.lookfordiagnosis.com/cases.php?term=Myelinolysis%2C+Central+Pontine&lang=1&from=10

11/105. immunoglobulins are effective in pontine myelinolysis.

Although the exact pathogenesis of central pontine myelinolysis (CPM) is unknown, correction of hyponatremia, thyreotropin releasing hormone, plasmapheresis, and corticosteroids seem to be effective. Assuming intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIG) to also be effective in CPM, 0.4 g/kg body weight/d immunoglobulins were applied to a 48-year-old patient who developed CPM with double vision, dysarthria, dysphagia, and left-sided hemiparesis 3 weeks after spontaneous normalization of hyponatremia. After 5 days of IVIG, his symptoms markedly improved, confirmed by improvement in the Norris score (42%), Frenchay score (19%), Kurtzke score (20%), Disability score (54%), vital capacity(26%), and peak torque (69%). The promising clinical effect of IVIG was assumed to be caused by the reduction of myelinotoxic substances, the development of antimyelinantibodies, and the promotion of remyelination. In conclusion, IVIG appear to be a promising therapeutic option in CPM. (+info)

12/105. Parkinsonism after correction of hyponatremia with radiological central pontine myelinolysis and changes in the basal ganglia.

Parkinsonism has been rarely described following central pontine and extrapontine myelinolysis. We report a case of parkinsonism developing following rapid correction ofhyponatremia with radiological evidence of central pontine myelinolysis and changes in the basal ganglia. A 56-year-old man developed drooling and bilateral hand tremors 3 weeks after correction of hyponatremia from 103 to 125 mmol/L over 14 h. He had a prominent 6 Hz resting tremor which worsened with action and mild cogwheel rigidity.magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed changes consistent with central pontine myelinolysis and increased signal on T1-weighted images in the putamen bilaterally. Histremor responded well to L-dopa therapy. There have been several other cases of parkinsonism developing after central pontine/extrapontine myelinolysis. Increased signal in the basal ganglia on T1-weighted images has been described in another case of central pontine myelinolysis imaged about the same time after sodium correction as our case.(+info)

13/105. Central pontine myelinolysis: association with parenteral magnesium administration.

A 29-year-old woman with diabetes mellitus and nephrotic syndrome was given 30 g ofmagnesium sulfate over 14 hours after a cesarian section. Her serum magnesium level increased to 7.4 mg/dl. Five days later, she became quadriplegic with inability to speak or swallow. Cranial magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated central pontine myelinolysis (CPM). Initial serum sodium was not measured. Although CPM is usually associated with a rapid increase in serum osmolality, most patients who experience a rapid increase inserum osmolality do not develop the clinical syndrome of CPM. Consequently, additional factors may also be important in the pathogenesis of CPM. Parenteral magnesium administration may be a potential contributing factor in the pathogenesis of some cases of CPM. (+info)

14/105. Central pontine myelinolysis: delayed changes on neuroimaging.

The authors report two cases, a 44-year-old woman and a 6-year-old girl who had mental status changes and hyponatremia. serum sodium levels in both of these cases were corrected quickly with further decline in their mental status, and the patients became quadriparetic. magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies performed then did not reveal any abnormalities, whereas a repeat imaging study performed 10-14 days after the shift inserum sodium revealed evidence for central pontine myelinolysis and extrapontine demyelination. The clinical manifestations and distribution of lesions seen on the imaging studies demonstrated that the above presentation of neurologic illness is the result ofhyponatremia and its correction. The authors conclude that imaging studies performed early during the illness may be unremarkable, but still a diagnosis of central pontine myelinolysis should be suspected and, most importantly, a repeat imaging study might be required in 10-14 days to establish the diagnosis of central pontine myelinolysis. (+info)

15/105. methylphenidate treatment of neuropsychiatric symptoms of central and extrapontine myelinolysis.

OBJECTIVE: Previous reports describe the presentation and course of theneurobehavioral manifestations of central and extrapontine myelinolysis; as of yet, however, there are no specific recommendations for treatment of these problems. We offer the first report of successful treatment. METHOD: We describe a 55-year-old man with chronic alcoholism who developed central and extrapontine myelinolysis following an episode of heavy drinking and rapid correction of hyponatremia. The patient acutely developed motor, cognitive, emotional and behavioral problems best accounted for by central pontine and bilateral striatal myelinolysis. These neuropsychiatric symptoms were treated with methylphenidate over the course of 1 month in an off-on-off-on fashion. The Neuropsychiatric Inventory and other tests were used to assess treatment response. RESULTS: Marked improvements in the patient’s neuropsychiatric status were noted only during treatment with methylphenidate. CONCLUSIONS: methylphenidate effectively reversed the neuropsychiatric symptoms associated with the patient’s demyelinating lesions. We discuss possible underlying mechanisms of both symptom formation and treatment effect. (+info)

16/105. Slowly progressive dystonia following central pontine and extrapontine myelinolysis.

A 28-year-old woman was hospitalized with dysarthria and oro-mandibular and upper limb dystonia. Approximately 8 years prior to the current admission, the woman became severely hyponatremic due to traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage-related SIADH. brainMRIs showed a signal increase in the central pons, thalamus and striatum on T2 weighted images compatible with central pontine and extrapontine myelinolysis. From a few months after that event, dystonia progressed slowly over the subsequent 8 years. We speculate that the particular damage chiefly to the myelin structures by myelinolytic process may have caused an extremely slow plastic reorganization of the neural structures, giving rise to progressive dystonia. (+info)

17/105. Central and extrapontine myelinolysis in a patient in spite of a careful correction of hyponatremia.

We report the case of a 54-year-old alcoholic female patient who was hospitalized for neurologic alterations along with a severe hyponatremia (plasma Na+: 97 mEq/l). She suffered from potomania and was given, a few days before admission, a thiazide diuretic for hypertension. A careful correction of plasma Na+ levels was initiated over a 48-hour period (rate of correction < 10 mEq/l/24h) in order to avoid brain demyelination. After a 2-day period of clinical improvement, her neurologic condition started to deteriorate. By the 5th day of admission, she became tetraplegic, presented pseudobulbar palsy, ataxia, strabism, extrapyramidal stiffness and clouding of consciousness. Scintigraphic and MRI investigations demonstrated pontine and extrapontine lesions associated with Gayet-wernicke encephalopathy. After correction of ionic disorders (hyponatremia, hypokaliemia) and vitamin B (thiamine) deficiency, the patient almost completely recovered without notable disabilities. This case illustrates that profound hyponatremia, in a paradigm of slow onset, can be compatible with life. It also demonstrates that demyelinating lesions, usually considered as a consequence of a too fast correction ofhyponatremia, may occur despite the strict observance of recent guidelines. There is increasing evidence to suggest that pontine swelling and dysfunction may sometimes occur in alcoholic patients even in absence of disturbance in plasma Na+ levels. It is therefore of importance, while managing a hyponatremic alcoholic patient, to identify additional risk factors (hypokaliemia, hypophosphoremia, seizure-induced hypoxemia,malnutrition with vitamin b deficiency) for brain demyelination and to correct them appropriately. (+info)

18/105. Central pontine myelinolysis.

Central pontine myelinolysis (CPM), a neurologic disorder caused most frequently by rapid correction of hyponatremia, is characterized by demyelination that affects the central portion of the base of the pons. There are no inflammatory changes, and blood vesselsare normal. Clinical features usually reflect damage to the descending motor tracts and include spastic tetraparesis, pseudobulbar paralysis, and the locked-in syndrome.magnetic resonance imaging of the brain, the imaging procedure of choice, shows an area of prolonged T1 and T2 relaxation in the central pons, which may have a characteristic shape. Recovery varies, ranging from no improvement to substantial improvement. To avoid CPM, correction of serum sodium in patients with hyponatremia should not exceed 12 mEq/24 h. We describe a case of CPM in a hyponatremic patient who presented with a cerebellar syndrome with no pyramidal tract involvement and in whom the rate of correction of serum sodium was within the recommended limits. (+info)

19/105. Reversible central pontine and extrapontine myelinolysis in a 16-year-old girl.

A rare case of an osmotic demyelination syndrome in a 16-year-old girl is presented. MRI in the acute stage revealed a focal abnormal signal within the basis pontis and both caudate nuclei and putamina. Two years later brain lesions had disappeared on T1- and T2-weighted imaging, indicating that central pontine and extrapontine myelinolysis may be completely reversible. (+info)

20/105. Decreased diffusion in central pontine myelinolysis.

Two patients with central pontine myelinolysis (CPM) were studied with diffusion-weighted MR imaging 1 week after onset of tetraplegia. In both patients, affected white matter showed hyperintensity on diffusion-weighted images associated with a decrease in apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values. In one patient studied serially, ADC values normalized by 3 weeks after tetraplegia. Early in the clinical course, diagnosis of CPM can sometimes be difficult. Hyperintensity on diffusion-weighted images may therefore have diagnostic utility. Decreased lesional ADC values support the notion that CPM is a consequence of relative intracellular hypotonicity. (+info)
Posted in Central Pontine Myelinolysis/ Extrapontine Myelinolysis and tagged , , ,
15 Apr 2012

Late onset symptoms:

It’s a two-for tonight 🙂

But, this post will be extremely short! I will try to expand on it as I find out more.

I think I mentioned this in previous posts, but I’ve been told by so many medical professionals that once the CPM/EPM has occurred no further damage will happen, and there won’t be any progression in symptoms.

This information was contradicted by my former mentor, Jeffrey Amitin. He had CPM for about 10 years before he died, and he explained that over the years some things got better, but other symptoms developed later. He was absolutely certain these symptoms were caused by CPM/EPM.

I’ve had others tell me that they’ve experienced the same thing, progression of symptoms. Usually these are issues with movements, but they also described problems with loss of consciousness, etc.

I have also experienced delayed onset of symptoms with cramping, tremors, jerks, spasms, etc.

Again, I was told that these issues could not possibly be related to CPM/EPM because they believe once the injury occurs, there is no further damage.

I have found subsequent articles that disagree with this, and I believe I’ve published them previously in my blog. Well, actually, I published something to that effect tonight about a research article that showed a person developed new symptoms 6 months after the injury.

So, I just found another publication that noted a person who developed significant symptoms 10 MONTHS after the injury!!! Further, the MRI that they did showed a kind of disintegration to the basal ganglia area.

Here is the link:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1074115/pdf/jnnpsyc00004-0119.pdf

Now, I don’t like the link because it does not have all of the article, and I will have to research it further to obtain where it comes from, etc, but I wanted to get this information posted before I “lost” it.

Thanks for reading, and I hope this is a step in the right direction for bringing more awareness about damage that occurs from CPM/EPM after the initial injury heals.

 

Posted in Central Pontine Myelinolysis/ Extrapontine Myelinolysis and tagged , , ,
18 Jan 2012

Getting a diagnosis:

Please bear with me tonight, I had my wisdom teeth removed today, so I’m taking pain killers. Let’s just say, I’m a bit off my game.

Most people who are treated for hyponatremia are already in the hospital for a secondary issue, like burns or liver transplants, etc. I believe persons who are being treated for other conditions are at a higher risk for a delay in diagnosis for hyponatremia. This would make it most likely for them to develop chronic hyponatremia (chronic, meaning longer than 48 hours, up to a few weeks). This will put them at higher risk for developing CPM/EPM.

That said, it is harder to diagnose these individuals with CPM/EPM because they are already ill. Most will be experiencing issues with nausea, headaches, vomiting, etc. They may even already be in a coma, so the symptoms will be attributed to other issues.

If you’re already in the hospital with a major disease, injury, or disorder and then develop hyponatremia followed by CPM/EPM, you will probably have significant damage. To be honest, you probably won’t make it.

If you do live through those major health issues, you will be lucky to get a diagnosis of CPM/EPM. Here’s why: in most cases, if you are already in the hospital for something like severe burns, to help manage the pain, the hospital will sometimes put you into a medically induced coma. If you are in a coma, it is difficult for the hospital to know if you are experiencing neurological issues.

When they awaken you from the coma, they might deduce that the issues you are having are due to the induced coma. If you have cancer, they might believe the issues (nausea, headache, balance issues) are due to the cancer especially if you have something like a brain tumor and especially if you are having chemotherapy treatments.

Depending on your doctor’s expertise and the symptoms you present with, you may not get a diagnosis of CPM/EPM right away.

CPM/EPM can appear on a MRI as early as two to three days; however, it may not appear on a MRI for up to two to four weeks. In less severe cases of CPM/EPM, your symptoms can begin to improve within a week after the injury. This makes it even more difficult to detect because doctors are even more likely to attribute the symptoms to the primary reason for hospitalization, so they don’t look for it.

To complicate things further, most individuals will begin to experience a disappearance of the lesions on the MRI as early as 4 to 6 weeks. In most cases, the lesions can completely disappear in 4 to 6 months. Despite the healing of the lesions, symptoms may or may not approve accordingly. In most research papers that I read, most lesions will disappear but a person will have ongoing issues with dystonia, speech issues, cognitive and learning issues, tremors, etc. Generally, the symptoms that remain after the lesions have disappeared are related to motor functions and cognitive functions. There can also be on going issues with behavioral and psychological deficits.

This leads to a misdiagnosis, or you may not ever get a diagnosis.

So, what do you do?

Get your medical records. Look for hyponatremia (keep in mind that CPM/EPM does not always occur with hyponatremia), but it is most common with it.

You can also request a MRI. A really good neurologist and/or radiologist can see something called sequelae. Basically, this is, for lack for better words, scar tissue. It is usually very difficult to see in our current scans. So, if you really believe CPM/EPM is responsible for your issues, you might have to see several neurologists or radiologists.

Some doctors will diagnose you based on symptoms and your clinical history alone.

For arguments sake, let’s say you really don’t have CPM/EPM. If you have symptoms that aren’t typical for the disorders or diseases that you experienced, you should pursue getting answers anyway.

I’ve been a patient for more than 8 years. I’ve been diagnosed with other health issues/ disorders before I was injured from CPM/EPM. From past experience, it is common for doctors to attribute any new symptoms that you may have to the previous diagnosis. Basically, they think that since you have one disease or disorder that you will not be unlucky enough to develop another. They might also attribute these new symptoms to being a psychological issue. They will state that this new issue is due to the stress of having a previous illness.

Follow your gut instinct! Only you know what you are going through. If you keep getting the run around from one doctor, find a new one…BUT whatever you do, do NOT tell this new doctor that he is your second opinion. Trust me, I know. It is hard to find a doctor who will go against what another doctor has diagnosed.

It shouldn’t be that way, but it is. You may be very blessed and have a doctor whom you do trust, if that’s the case, level with them.  If he’s a great doctor, he will look into new possibilities.

In the end, you should find a diagnosis that answers ALL the questions, fits ALL the symptoms. In your situation, look at the symptoms of your initial disorder/disease, and check out CPM/EPM symptoms. You have to a detective. You also have to be your own advocate.

If you’re able, look for information online. We are in a fantastic technological age where information is just a few key strokes away. Take advantage of it, but try not to be consumed by it. Easier said than done, I know.

I was trying to get into med school before I developed CPM/EPM. It happens to the best of us that the more we read about disorders or diseases, you start to believe you have every disorder that you read about.

To keep this from happening, I would recommend with coming up with your list of symptoms and the dates that they began BEFORE you start doing any research. Take your time in coming up with this list. It’s easy to forget little things, and you don’t want to begin adding things after you start researching because you’ll end up in the same position where you start thinking you have every disease imaginable.

Things to look for on the MRI. Previously, I mentioned that T1 and T2 MRI‘s showed high signal intensity; however, only T2 shows high signal intensity, but T1 shows low signal intensity. This means in T2 MR images, the areas of damage are bright, and in T1 the same areas of damage are darker than surrounding areas. This information might come in handy when you get your medical records. If you review your radiology reports, you might find these things defined, and this is what it means.

Sequelae: an abnormal condition that results from a previous injury or disease. If you are reading it on your radiology report, then it means that there was a previous injury that has caused an abnormality on your MRI.

An EEG may or may not show abnormalities. If there are abnormalities, than it is usually present in theta and delta activity. Usually these abnormalities will also improve in the following months.

J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry1998;65:119-121 doi:10.1136/jnnp.65.1.1, Parkinsonism and dystonia in central pontine and extrapontine myelinolysis: 

…….bilateral hyperintense areas within the putamen, caput nuclei caudati, and lateral thalamus (figure). Subsequent control images made up to six months after the onset of the condition showed a marked decrease of these signal intensities. An EEG disclosed diffuse slow background activity and bilateral theta and delta activity which improved gradually during the subsequent months.

Next article:J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry2011;82:326-331 doi:10.1136/jnnp.2009.201764 Clinical and functional outcome and factors predicting prognosis in osmotic demyelination syndrome (central pontine and/or extrapontine myelinolysis) in 25 patients

The higher incidence of extrapontine lesions in recent series and ours may be due to the availability of better-quality MRI picking up subtle lesions. Also, the extent of involvement in the imaging depends on the interval at which imaging is done after the onset of ODS.2 21 The MRI done early (1–6 days) in six (24%) of our patients failed to show any abnormality. However, in all these patients, a repeat MRI done 1–2 weeks later showed positive findings. Therefore, we concur with the other authors that a repeat MRI after 1–2 weeks in all clinically suspected cases of ODS is very helpful.2 Also, diffusion MRI can pick up early lesions when conventional MRI is still negative.

CT was done in seven cases and was positive in two (28.5%). All had MRI-detectable lesions (n=23). Six required repeat MRI as the initial one did not reveal any lesion. The mean interval between the first and repeat imaging was 10.6 days in these patients (range 9–17 days). There were T1W hypointense and T2W and FLAIR sequence hyperintense lesions involving pons (76%), basal ganglia (76%) and thalamus (20%) (figures 1 and 2). Contrast enhancement was not seen in any of the cases. Diffusion-weighted imaging (n=3) showed a restricted diffusion in two cases. The radiological findings are summarised in table 3.

Figure 1

Okay, so since I’ve gone on a bit. Please trust me when I say, that this information comes up in pretty much every research paper. This is also a few more types of imaging that have been used to detect CPM/EPM that I wasn’t aware of previously. I do not know anything about what this means, so I will have to get back to you when I know for sure what it refers to, but TcTrodat-1 and 1-IBZM spect images show higher correlations with the severity of clinical features in EPM than MRI alone. (Annals of Nuclear Medicine 2009 23, 409-412.

In summary: MRI is the best method to diagnose CPM/EPM. It usually may not show the lesions until 1 to 4 weeks after injury. The CT scan is the worst at detecting damage. The spect images mentioned above might be a better way showing the damage that correlates to symptoms. The MRI signals usually detect the injury for a few months, but then shows improvements that do not necessarily correlate with the severity in symptoms. This is also true for EEG abnormalities. You may have an abnormal EEG, but improvements usually show within months but do not necessarily correlate to the symptoms you experience. Finally, trust your symptoms. If you had issues with hyponatremia while being hospitalized for a different condition, be sure to access your medical records and consult with one or more neurologists or radiologists to try to determine whether or not CPM/EPM is responsible for issues that seem unrelated to your original conditions.

I’m sorry for the length of this post. I hope it doesn’t ramble too much and that you find the information useful.

Many blessings!

 

UPDATE: 04/20/12….I just wanted to leave a little bit more information regarding imaging. I mentioned above the FLAIR imaging, and I wanted to explain exactly what that is.

Fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) Magnetic Resonance images stands for FLAIR MRI. It can be used in a two dimensional form or 3D form.  This type of imaging can produce an image without showing the fluid in the brain. This type of imaging is used to detect lesions in the brain, and is very useful in diagnosing demyelinating lesions. It is supposed to be a great way to determine lesions caused by MS. I do not have a lot of information regarding CPM/EPM lesions, but it is being used in diagnosing it along with standard MRI’s.

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