Need a second opinion for my 17 year old son

[ijreda]

Normally I don't question what the doctor says. However, the last time my son complained of chest pain to this doctor (on 3 different occasions), the doc said young boys don't have big problems like heart attacks. Trust me, it will go away...Quit worrying about yourself.  So we trusted, and he was on a church retreat 250 miles from home, he was in terrible chest pain. We sent him to the emergency room and his lung had collapsed.  Had been collapsing and reinflating for almost a year and was full of blebs.  I was sick about it.  Now, the same son has been complaining about dizzy spells lasting from 10 to 20 minutes at a time for the last 3-4 months.  I figured they were incomplete migrains because they run in our family but he never got a headache afterwards. Now, for the last 2 weeks he's vomiting when he gets dizzy.  I have one brother with seizures from a mass of blood vessels in his brain and my 35 year old sister had a stroke last year and while doing discovery, they found a brain annurism. Also, my sister's husband also 35, collapsed on the softball field about 3 years ago and had a tennis ball sized tumor that was removed from his brain.  Needless to say, when  I took my son to the doctor today and he told him to just ride it out. He wasn't going to run any tests because young kids generally don't get brain tumors or have strokes, alot of red flags went into the air and I'm scared. Do you have any advise? Should I find someone else to look at him? If so, who? Or should  we just give it some time and see what  happens?

[aurora2779]

I think you should go get a second opinion. That just doesnt sound right to me. A person can develop a tumor at any age. I am now 30 but I found out I had a pituitary tumor, arnold chiari malformation, and fibromyalgia all in the same day! That was almost 10 years ago. They happened to find all those things because I was going through massive pain and they didnt know why, so they did an MRI or my head/neck/back. I have just found out 2 weeks ago that the arnold chiari is getting worse and I am more than likely going to need surgery. But in my fight with the doctors I finally found out what was wrong. At first no one would believe me because I had SO many different symptoms, so I would go to another doctor until they ran tests and found out what it was. Since I found out all of this, it makes me feel sort of like a hyprocondriac, but I know my body and when somethings not right thats a red flag for me.
If you are not satisfied with the results from your doctor, please think about getting a second opinion.

oh one more thing...the doctor you go to, is it just an  MD, like family practice?
If so I would suggest seeing a nueorologist. They specialize in the brain.

hope everything works out well.

[rumpled]

I would inform the doctor of the family history. If he refuses to run more tests, then I would find another doctor.

There is no sense in your son being in pain. Whatever it is, you want it treated. Be persistent.