Anon. Kazakh Med Student
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Anonymous
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25 Jan 2026
A bit about myself: I live in Kazakhstan, a country in Central Asia. I'm 21 years old and currently in my fourth year of medical school. There's a saying that when life is going smoothly, we tend to create problems in our minds, but when a real challenge arrives, all the imaginary ones suddenly fade away.
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Shared stories from people describing their experiences with Functional Neurological Disorder (FND), including symptoms, diagnosis journeys, and day-to-day impact.
Personal Account of Misdiagnosed Neurological Condition by a Medical Student
6 months ago
Email from a 21-year-old medical student in Kazakhstan sharing their detailed experience with neurological symptoms diagnosed as FND, highlighting objective signs of an organic lesion, diagnostic history, and concerns about misdiagnosis.
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This is an MRI from 2022, T2 sequence. Right in the area of the marginal and supramarginal gyrus, there is this area of atypical cortical architecture, which the radiologist interpreted as microgyria.
The same pathology is present on the 2024 MRI, now in T1 sequence. In this sequence, the difference is much clearer. Just look closely at the difference between the adjacent normal cortex and this area. In all other respects, the brain is clean. There aren't even foci of age-related vascular gliosis to latch onto, which is commendable, as by 30-40 years of age, people typically develop some small subcortical foci.
It's difficult now to assess the probability of this being a congenital or acquired condition, as it's impossible to know if they were present in her childhood.
Now, if we analyze your wife's symptoms in detail, her clinical presentation is very similar to the course of multiple sclerosis, with symptoms resembling relapses and remissions. Your wife's MRI is clean. Yes, there are cases where the MRI is clear at the very beginning (less than 1% of cases), and even those are explained by technical issues, lack of imaging of other areas like the spinal cord, or radiologist negligence regarding incidental and seemingly nonspecific foci. However, within 6 months to 1 year, visible lesions typically appear, even if the brain MRI was initially clear. In your wife's case, over almost 2 years, not a single lesion has appeared. Clinically it resembles MS, but the MRI picture is paradoxical. Even in primary progressive MS, lesions are visible in the spinal cord.
Regarding the spinal images, I'm not an expert and don't specialize much in paraspinal tissues like vertebral pathology or tissues adjacent to the spine. However, I am well-versed in the spinal cord. And I can say this: there are no lesions in your wife's spinal cord. I tried to spot any hyperintense areas, but they simply aren't there. Regarding spinal cord compression, yes, I agree. There is a protrusion into the spinal canal, but as you yourself understand, this DOES NOT explain the other symptoms at all.
Unfortunately, both in my case and in your wife's case, doctors have stopped the diagnostic search, which is disheartening. But still, after all these years, you haven't lost heart and are trying to find a logical explanation, which is good.