My Daughter

[Sclements2]

My daughter is 36 years old; with mild MR. Until August of this year physically she had no problems. Early part of August she complained of back and hip pain (left side). It was not serious and I thought she had just strained her back while working with her plants and moving pots. Five days later she work up in serious pain and could not straighten up or put pressure on her left leg. We went to the emergency room (it was a Saturday) and Monday we went to an orthopedic doctor. She spent 9 days in the hospital with them running test (MRI on back and leg, Sonogram on lower pelvic, Cat-scan of the head, body scan of the bones, blood test after blood test and nothing showed up. Her pain level was always a 10.

She left the hospital on the 17th of September and entered a Nursing home for physical therapy-she has lost the ability to walk, her left leg will not bend and she can only drag it; she can only manage a few steps with a walker and someone holding her up with the therapy belt. She can not stand up by herself at all. She has lost the ability to sit up, she falls over. The pain has lesson greatly but she still has what she calls “shooting pains" at times that go from her back into that left leg and hip.

I have been fighting all this time for an MRI on the brain and she will finally get one this coming Monday (10/05/07). Besides the fact she has been healthy until this, and we moved here two years ago, all these doctors have never seen her healthy. They find it hard to believe me when I say 90 days ago she was running, and all this just happen. All they say is we do not know.

I do not know what else to do. Do you have any suggestions? If so I would be most grateful.

Thank you kindly,

Sandra

[Lindy19]

The fact that she has the inability to sit up and subsequently falls over is more suggestive of a brain lesion.  The MRI may give you more information -- with my limited knowledge of CNS lesions -- a TIA, or transischemic attack comes to mind.  Especially, considering her age.  Question is, if this is ruled in, the cause.  Things to look for in her bloods are platelet count and other hemo workup, including cardiolipin syndrome.  (my late mother had the same thing happen to her, it resolved on it's own, with later in life finding out she had multiple TIAs secondary to cardiolipin syndrome.  Now that it is understood in the medical world, it is now being diagnosed and addressed).

Good luck.  I am also around your daughter's age with a neuromuscular issue that can't be figured out to date and was running up until July.  Huge life changing status.

I wish your daughter the best of luck in her search for a diagnosis and successful treatment plan.

[jcverive]

I don't know why your question hasn't been addressed yet, though at times the website doctors get backlogged with questions.  I am not a doctor, but I have been studying neurology for several years.

The rapid change in your daughter's condition suggests that at least part of the problem is due a lesion or compression to a nerve in her lower spine, irrespective of the negative MRI, CT, sonogram, and bone scan studies.  The sharp, shooting pain in her back and hip are classical signs of nerve entrapment or damage.  However, such nerve trauma usually responds much better to physical therapy.  So it is also possible that a more severe lesion has occurred in your daughter's spinal column, creating pain *and* disrupting the signals from her brain responsible for moving her legs.  If you are still grasping at straws, a nerve conduction test might be useful in determining whether signals are being conducted through the spine properly.

That's the extent of my minimal diagnostic abilities, and by no means should my recommendations be acted upon without review by qualified medical personnel.  I truly wish you the best.

Jeff

P.S., If possible, please let me know if doctors are able to reach a working diagnosis that leads to effective treatment.