Understanding the MS Black Holes in My Brain

"You have holes in your head!" Yes, my mother used to say that to me. I probably was acting like a dog on all fours at age three. Hey! I had a vivid imagination. When I 'got' MS, I was also told I had holes, black holes in my head, my brain to be exact.

If you haven't been told that yet, and you have MS, get ready. The more exact the testing equipment (MRI--Magnetic Resonance Imaging), the more of these black holes the experts can see.  Go to Google "Image" and search brain black holes, lots of photos for you to peruse. Once you get your own brain MRI pictures on a DVD, pop it into your computer and grab a magnifying glass.

When the MRI sends sound waves into our brains they can shift around some of the junk in there, then make a picture out of it--think etch-a-sketch. 

First a brief note on how the Etch a Sketch works: What you find inside is a stylus mounted on a pair of orthogonal rails. These rails move when you turn the knobs. Also inside is a mixture of extremely fine aluminum powder and beads. The beads help the powder to flow evenly.When you turn the Etch-a-Sketch upside down and shake, it coats the inside face of the glass with aluminum powder. An obvious question, prior to playing with this powder, is, "Why does the aluminum powder stick to the glass?" After you play with the powder, you know that the answer is, "Because it sticks to EVERYTHING. When you turn a knob, it moves its bar, and this moves the stylus. The stylus scratches off the aluminum dust coating the glass to create a line on the screen. --HowStuffWorks

 You drag the little stylus across the tablet,  scratching the aluminum away, leaving the dark screen behind. But, let's suppose instead of just aluminum, we add sugar. If the sugar is in the way (are you still reading? SERIOUSLY, I'm not stoned.) the magnet can't get all the aluminum specks across. Just there--that is a plaque! Sugar does not belong in a healthy brain. Then you shake the screen again (sound waves) and the sugar falls to the side,  leaving a hole, a dark empty area.

WHERE did your brain go? Where did the drawing of a house you made go? It was just covered by the aluminum powder.

Have I made this clear as mud? A brain black hole is what a MRI shows by using sound waves to 'scratch away' any stuff that healthy brains don't have.

 Areas that show up as dark spots on a MRI  are called “black holes.” These are areas where there has been a lot of inflammation, which leads to the complete destruction of brain myelin and the axons themselves. These areas strongly correspond to disability. BUT NOT ALWAYS. And not just on MRIs of people with MS. After age 30, we all begin losing myelin. We ALL begin accumulating "black holes." 

Sooo...since I am 55 and have MS, my MRI must show MANY black holes--nope. Matter of fact some have "gone away." (And you thought my Etch-A-Sketch comparison was just silly!)

In conclusion, using what little brain I have left, scientists do not understand much more about our brains than they did 55 years ago. If you doubt my conclusion, just ask a few different experts what a brain black hole is. Brain to brain.