Hi Cathy,

Welcome to our MM family!

I wish I could answer your question for you, but without knowing your specifics, I don’t think anyone could answer which was more important. There are too many factors involved. Plus, we see misdiagnosed new members all the time, so we wouldn’t know if that was the case or not. I know very little about AVM, but I do know that I’ve talked with many here who were misdiagnosed, and their doctors who were not familiar with MMD simply said they had vascular lesions, such as with AVM and they were told they had to live with it and sadly they stroked or hemorrhaged. So that’s touchy when giving advice, but I do know MM should be treated promptly. MM is a progressive disease and you’re always at risk for a stroke.

So my advice to you would be, if you were diagnosed with MM, get a neurosurgeon with MM experience ASAP!! That’s vital! You may have a wonderful doctor but if he’s not familiar with MMD, it could be a deadly path. That’s the particular pitfall we see often. MMD is definitely a treatable disease IF the proper approach is taken. A MM specialist would know the best path for your particular case, he deals with MM on a daily basis, not a doctor that specializes in radiosurgery. The fact that they said MM was caused by AVM scares me because no one knows what causes MM.

There is a wealth of knowledge here on this website. Learn all you can. If you arm yourself with knowledge, you’ll feel much more confident in your decisions once you learn the facts of this disease.

You’re not alone. You have many wonderful people here who will help you in any way they can.

Keeping you in my thoughts and prayers!

Mar