11 Yr Old- White Spots on Brain (MRI)- Seizure- Possible Lyme Disease

[flying_mom]

Hello,
My 11 year old son woke up about 2 weeks ago complaining of a head ache that lasted several hours (he has never complained of head aches before). I took him to the DR and he was diagnosed with an ear infection. The DR prescribed him Omnicef 250 mg. We returned home and gave him his 1st dose of the Omnicef and he laid down on the sofa. 30 minutes later he began making a strange noise when I went to check on him he was having a seizure that last approx 5 minutes (this was his 1st seizure and no family history). My husband called 911 and the EMT's arrived quickly. My son did not have a temperature and his blood sugar level was 125. He could not answer simple questions correctly and it was decided that he should be taken to the ER. We stayed in the ER for about 2 hours while our son continued to improve and were released without any testing.

Our DR sent him for an MRI (with and without contrast) the following day. The radiologist read the tests and gave us his thoughts shortly after the test completed. The radiologist said that he saw several areas of white spots on our sons brain and was very concerned. He said that nothing showed up with the contrast, so we are not concerned with tumors etc). His impression was concern with lyme disease, MS, adrenallukodrostophy.

Our DR pulled blood the same afternoon. His blood results came back normal with the exception of lyme disease. He tested positive for the initial 2 blood tests (one of them was the western blot test). 1 week later the IgG band 41 came back present. Our son is currently on Ceftin 250 mg 2 x daily for 20 days. We will have his blood retested for lyme disease at the end of this week when he completes the Ceftin.

We visited a child Neurologist last week and he immediatly said that our son did not have lyme disease since lyme disease was not in the state of GA.  He also looked at our sons MRI results and said that he did not see any of the white spots that the 2 radiologists had seen. The office performed an EEG test on our son that day and we are suppoed to find the results out next Monday.

We are currently trying to get an appt with a pediatric infectious disease dr to find out more information on lyme disease.

Our son continues to be a healthy boy. He does complain of head aches occasionally and the pain is in a very specific area of his head each time. Ususally he will hold either his left or right side toward the middle of his head.

He was also born with apraxia of speech which was corrected with many years of speech therapy. Dyslexia and learning delays were diagnosed last December. He is a very bright boy who will begin a school for dyslexic children in the fall.

Needless to say we are very confused by all of the different and conflicting information we have been given.

* Our question is what could cause white spots on an 11 year old boys brain?
* What criteria do you have to meet on blood tests to actually have lyme disease?
* Should we be trying to persue other avenues or doctors?

Thank you for your help!

[karen72165]

I realize this post is several years old, but in June of this year 2011 my 13 year old had virtually the same thing happen with the headache and ear infection, but instead of having the seizures he starting having stroke-like symptoms where his arm and one side of the face went numb. He was not able to form words. He had three of these episodes within a 6 hour period it the ER. He was admitted to Children's Hopsital and the MRI showed around 10 whtie spots on the brain. We went for follow-up MRI last week (Sept. 14) and most of the white spots had gone away but he had three new white spots. Neurologist is baffled and hesitant to diagnose MS. He hasn't had any other symptoms. I have pulled several ticks off his scalp the past year. The didn't test him for Lyme because "we dont' have Lyme in Alabama. Anything you could add would be helpful.

[twitch115]

I realize this post is two years old, but it sickened me that a medical professional would declare that there is no Lyme in GA as fact.  He is 100% wrong.  I have Lyme and I live in Florida.  i got it in Florida because I have never left the state except for the Bahamas ( in the other direction ).  What?  Did ticks somehow skip over Georgia on their way to Florida?  Or maybe the birds carried them completely over GA and dropped them in FL?   That doctor is an ignorant dumbarse.  I sure hope your son was properly treated for Lyme.  

[flying_mom]

Patsy,
That is what we are concerned about.... I finally got an appt with a pediatric infectious disease DR for mid July. We are hoping for some more answers to our many questions.

[patsy10]

Lyme is even mentioned on this report.  

[flying_mom]

I wanted to post the impression from my sons MRI report:

Impression:
Hyperintensitites of the peritrigonal deep white matter and of the superior frontal gyri greater on the left. These are overall, non specific. Considerations for dysmyelinating etiology such as adrenoleukodystrophy should be considered as well as lyme disease, and multiple sclerosis and potentially secondary demyelinating disease. Pediatric neurological consult is suggested.

[flying_mom]

Patsy,
Thank you for your response. Yes, we do live in a wooded area with deer on our property. We also travel out of the country often and could have picked up a deer on our travels or back yard.

I will check out the lymenet.org website.

[patsy10]

I don't know whether your son has lyme or not.  I am not a doctor.  I just wanted to say that there is lyme everywhere.  Where there are ticks, there is lyme.  If you are told that there is no lyme based on the state you live in that is not correct information.  I was told the same thing that there was no lyme in Ohio.  There are cases everywhere.  Even if there was no lyme in a particular state people travel to other areas.  It only takes one tick.  There is a lyme disease site called lymenet dot org.  You could get a lot of information there.