Loss of balance, cold and blue

[Hialry's Mom]

My daughter is 17 years old. She is extremely fit,a vegetarian with a great diet.She takes vitamin supplements and is careful to ensure that she gets the right balance of proteins.On April 12, in dance class, she lost her balance and fell.She picked herself up and fell again. About an hour later she developed a bad headache centred over the back of her head.Later that day she became quite nauseous and vomitted several times.Over the next few days she continued to feel nauseous and the vomitting continued. After 5 days I took her to a clinic.The Dr was very abrupt and after about 2 minutes decided that she had a virus affecting her inner ear. He recommended Gravol for nausea and said she'd be better in a week. The gravol helped but it became evident that her balance was completely out of whack.She does not feel that she is moving, she does not feel that the room is moving. She constantly feels lightheaded with a slight headache that worsens with noise and commotion. She can walk on a smooth flat, solid surface if she moves slowly and deliberately. When on grass, or confronted with a hill (up or down) she has a very difficult time. We ended up at an excellent children's hospital where they ran a bunch of blood tests to rule out B12, Folate problems. They also did urinalysis, and took throat and nasal swabs. A CT scan was done and "looked fine". Two ECGs have been performed...fine.Her resting pulse is quite low (48-53) and her blood pressure is also low 110/70. For the last several months she has regularly complained of being cold, fingers and toes blue
lips also.Ideas?

[st123]

Hi ,

I made some research online& found the symptoms similar to MVP, mitralvalve prolapse syndrome,please don't feel bad,please  read some  experiences in mvpsupport.com, as u have already the  Echo report to be normal,I advice you  to please go to a good cardiologist /general physician once again to get a second opinion,MVP IS not dangerous,I know many people who led normal lives with agood life span, let us not hope  your child has no  MVP

our fears would be allievated if we could know the cause /diagnosis of our problem&can cope up with the symptoms when we know they are not dangerous.

[st123]

Hi

I have a similar problem,but not blues etc

my complaints started with a sudden attack of vertigo while raising from the bed,was admitted  to ER  had the diagnosis of viral illness ,the doc didnt explain anything to me abt my illness,Iwas so much disabled had vomitting ,could not stand



within  a month I had 3 total 3 attacks of vertigo  & developed tinitus &aural fullness ,went to an  otolarnyngologist -told everything was normal-prescribed MRI of brain with internal auitory canals

later I went to  neurologist ,he precribed MRI OF NECK  for my neck pain ,EEG ENG  which turned out to be normal except MRI NECK showed some degree of spondylosis , I was given painkillers for my neck pain

I developed   headache ,photophobia,nausea, unsteadiness-like lightheadedness, slight loss of balance but able to walk properly ,headache had some relation to food etc

I faced problem while reading as I could fix the gaze but could not read properly as I feel  i could not preceive the depth of the object or so   I feel some thing like nystagmus ,but I dont know whether it could occur like a symptom

I had total of 4 visits with 2 neurologist but had silly diagnose of tension headache despite these physical signs

I wanted to know whats happening in my body &diagnosis

Iam a doctor&wanted a probable dignosis-so called to my home country , got  the diagnosis of basilar migraine,also I did some reasearch online ,found to be a variant of migraine/migrainous vertigo

I want to confirm this  so planning to visit some other neurologists, otolaryngologists& opthalmologists

Please get all the investigations whatever the doctor tells you

[st123]

Hi

I have a similar problem,but not blues etc

my complaints started with a sudden attack of vertigo while raising from the bed,was admitted  to ER  had the diagnosis of viral illness ,the doc didnt explain anything to me abt my illness,Iwas so much disabled had vomitting ,could not stand



within  a month I had 3 total 3 attacks of vertigo  & developed tinitus &aural fullness ,went to an  otolarnyngologist -told everything was normal-prescribed MRI of brain with internal auitory canals

later I went to  neurologist ,he precribed MRI OF NECK  for my neck pain ,EEG ENG  which turned out to be normal except MRI NECK showed some degree of spondylosis , I was given painkillers for my neck pain

I developed   headache ,photophobia,nausea, unsteadiness-like lightheadedness, slight loss of balance but able to walk properly ,headache had some relation to food etc

I faced problem while reading as I could fix the gaze but could not read properly as I feel  i could not preceive the depth of the object or so   I feel some thing like nystagmus ,but I dont know whether it could occur like a symptom

I had total of 4 visits with 2 neurologist but had silly diagnose of tension headache despite these physical signs

I wanted to know whats happening in my body &diagnosis

Iam a doctor&wanted a probable dignosis-so called to my home country , got  the diagnosis of basilar migraine,also I did some reasearch online ,found to be a variant of migraine/migrainous vertigo

I want to confirm this  so planning to visit some other neurologists, otolaryngologists& opthalmologists

Please get all the investigations whatever the doctor tells you

[Hialry's Mom]

It's been almost eight weeks now. My daughter finally had an echocardiogram last week and all looks good.She is feeling ever so slightly better. Rather than feeling lightheaded ALL THE TIME, now she has to exert herself a bit to bring on that feeling. Her lips, finger and toenails still turn blue on a regular basis and hands and feet still go numb. She still has trouble walking up or down hills. With the agreement of our GP, she is starting to work out (very slowly) with a trainer to try to stay strong. She had an assessment on a stationary bike yesterday and the focus will be on gradually working her so that she can get her heart rate elevated and recovered effectively. Our GP still does not have a good explanation for what has happened and still feels that it could be as a result of a virus.
We are being recommended to an internist at a large hospital here in Toronto.
Any other ideas?

[hewie1]

Hi,

I believe you should push for an MRI (as the CCF neuro suggested)  - WITH & WITHOUT - contrast of your daughters brain and perhaps neck. If you haven't already, perhaps you could ask her primary physician. (I'd be very firm that you KNOW something is wrong and you need to know what it is.) IF that doctor is also brushing you off, get another, then another until you are satisfied with what is being told you. It may well be migranes but without ruling out something more serious I would not stop until I knew for you.

Just my two cents.  Hope things get better for you.

Linda
PS - I have 4 grown children. Two daughters and two sons  =)

[Hialry's Mom]

BTW...back in October 2005 Hilary did suffer from a very nasty headache. She was under considerable stress at the time (the type that would be extremely difficult for any adult to handle let alone a 17 year-old) and we ended up in the emergency dept. She was given IV fluids and a "cocktail" of meds to ease the headache. Because it seemed to worsen with bright lights and noise there was consideration given to migraine.
She has not suffered from anything like it since October. does it make any sense that she could still be suffering from a migraine now (May 18) that started April 12?

[Hialry's Mom]

It's Mom again...Hilary did see a neurologist during her hopital stay. She believed that the coldness, blue and tingling are separate from her loss of balance. She ordered an EMG which we had two days ago. The test was very quick; there were no needles, just electrodes placed on about three positions on one lower leg and two positions on one hand. I was told that everything looks "normal". All we have scheduled now is an echocardiogram in two weeks.
By the way, my daughter continues to say that she is never hungry; she eats because she knows she needs to. At least a couple of times lately she had vomitted very shortly after eating.

[CCF-Neuro-M.D.-PW]

I cannot give you a formal medical opinion over the internet as this site is purely educational.

The most important way of assessment is the history and examination. A good neurological examination shouldbe done by an experienced person - any focal abnormality should be followed up with an MRI scan as CT scans do not give much detail and are generally only used to look for bleeding in the brain.

They should also be able to differentiate between a centreal (brain) or peripheral (inner ear) cause of vomting and dizziness. This may involve some maneouvres called the Dix-Hallpike test or a test called videonystagmography. Migraine could also cause these symptoms and shoudll be evaluated for.

Good luck