Spine/Back concerns

[Barb3233]

27 year old son was working out very, very hard at a gym.  Suddenly he felt nausious, his vision was like tunnel vision. It cleared up gradually but he hasn't felt right since.  He says he feels almost drunk, speech is slight off, slightly slurred.  He went to doctor and ER. Tests were run, blood-urine-EKG.  Everything appears normal. He has back compression issues from being in military and wearing heavy equipment.  No one seems to feel there is a concern, tests come back ok, but he continues to feel "off". What are we missing?

[Dr Sharma]

Hi there. This could be one of the chronic headache syndromes like migraine, cluster headache or tension headache. Aura associated with migraine is known to have nausea vomiting, visual disturbances like blurring, tunnel vision , slurring speech etc . Apart from others, exercise is a known trigger to migraine attacks and that’s exactly what could have happened in case of your son. Other accompanying symptoms could be increased urination, fatigue, loss of appetite, numbness, tingling or weakness, problems in concentrating, sensitivity to light or sound.
Discuss with your primary care physician,  as to what does he feel. Treatment could include triptans, ergots, drugs for nausea like prochlorperazine, over the counter pain killers along with avoiding the known triggers etc.
Hope this helps you.

[Dr Sharma]

Hi there. This could be one of the chronic headache syndromes like migraine, cluster headache or tension headache. Aura associated with migraine is known to have nausea vomiting, visual disturbances like blurring, tunnel vision , slurring speech etc . Apart from others, exercise is a known trigger to migraine attacks and that’s exactly what could have happened in case of your son. Other accompanying symptoms could be increased urination, fatigue, loss of appetite, numbness, tingling or weakness, problems in concentrating, sensitivity to light or sound.
Discuss with your primary care physician,  as to what does he feel. Treatment could include triptans, ergots, drugs for nausea like prochlorperazine, over the counter pain killers along with avoiding the known triggers etc.
Hope this helps you.

[ggreg]

I want to support what Mooks Mom said.  Your son also needs a CT scan of his head and neck.  Also, whichever doc orders that scan should make real sure his heart is pumping enough blood up into his brain.  In the meantime, make sure he's drinking some extra water, eating lots of good food, and while normal activities are good for him and easy walks are okay exercise, he also needs to rest a lot until the docs figure him out.

[mooksmom]

If he has a MD that knows him and his medical history he needs to see him/her and let that person do a workup, more intensive than the ERs do. These are not symptoms of compression of the back.