need help ??

[hobber]

I am wrtting this on behalf of my father he is a 66 yr old who about 6 months ago began loosing weight although he has not changed his eatting habits ,,he has lost close to 60 lbs the doctors do not know what is causing this ,but two weeks ago he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and had it removed it was all contained and they feel as though they have gotten it all
but now he is having problems almost like spells that he goes thru cold sweats shivering loss of appettite his blood sugar is flucuating, blood pressure is normal , temperature is between 99.0 and 99.3 the doctors have ran all kinds of test to no avail the doctor who did the surgery has came to the conculsion that it is not on his end so turned him back over to the family doctor , who has no clue what so ever ,,so ?? where do we go from here? with his shaking or shivering i would assume that it might be a nerve problem. but what about the weight loss ?
are our doctors missing somthing ?any suggestions on where to look ??
any help would be greatly appreciatted
thanks

[tammy j]

i have a 7 year old little boy. at age 2 we were told he has autism. we were learning sign language .he did not talk till age 4. during this time he developed seizures gran mal and petit mal. he is on tegrotol.he is also a.d.h.d. he is in adderall for  that. we had some test done on him and he is at a 4 year old level. he is in special ed .last year they told us he has  cortical dysplasia.the doctor did not go into any detail on what it was .please help.he has some behavorial problems.

[tammy j]

i have a 7 year old little boy. at age 2 we were told he has autism. we were learning sign language .he did not talk till age 4. during this time he developed seizures gran mal and petit mal. he is on tegrotol.he is also a.d.h.d. he is in adderall for  that. we had some test done on him and he is at a 4 year old level. he is in special ed .last year they told us he has  cortical dysplasia.the doctor did not go into any detail on what it was .please help.he has some behavorial problems.

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

Your father's condition is concerning. I agree that something is going on that's causing the profound weight loss and persistent low grade fevers. Fluctuating blood sugars and elevated body temperatures can cause the shivers and shakes in themselves, so I don't think this is a primary neurological problem - although it is quite possible that he may have some kind of chronic meningitis due to the immunocompromised state from the cancer.

In these kinds of cases, the possibilities of hidden cancer (other than the prostate), infection, and autoimmune diseases are at the top of the list.  The exact type of prostate cancer that he had would be very important to know, especially if it's a rare type, and of course how extensive the cancer was. Depending on how aggressive you and your family want to be, your father deserves an extensive workup which should include first and foremost a VERY thorough physical exam by an internist who will spend more than 5 minutes looking at your dad. This is followed by lab studies: complete blood count, sed rate and CRP (markers of acute inflammation), electrolyte studies, multiple blood cultures for bacteria, fungi, and viral antibody titers, CT scan of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis, and possibly a spinal tap and MRI of the brain for completion. If many of these tests have been done, consider getting a second opinion at an academic center where someone can get a fresh look at your father. I wish you and your family the best of luck.