19 y/o male with a lower left back Mass - extreme pain, leg numbness, eye pain, dizziness. Any Ideas?

[tmt731]

Hi there,

My brother has had an issue with his back for about a year and a half to two years now. He did physical therapy and massage therapy for about a year, after being told it was a strained muscle. The pain continued so this past summer, he went to a new doctor who noticed it was not a strained muscle at all but what the doctor thought was cartilage that's grown to protect his muscles from a previous injury as well as scoliosis. My brother went back to physical and massage therapy. The mass continued to grow and become even more painful. He went to a chiropractor and had acupuncture performed. MRI's showed no obvious signs of a tumor, and doctors had no idea what it was, although they could see a growth. This past August, he went to college in Indiana and woke up one morning and couldn't feel or move his legs. He went to the ER and was sent back home to NY because the doctor said he needed far more work done then they could give him. Since then, his legs have gone numb many times and when he gets numb his eyes hurt and he gets dizzy and agitated.

Today he had scans of his brain and abdomen. Does anyone know what this could be? He has lost 15 pounds in the past 2 weeks and is already a skinny kid to begin with (but my mom has made sure to have him eat every meal everyday). He is also extremely exhausted. For background - he's a 19 year old male. Weighed 180 before the weight loss and is 6'5".

In addition - I have been diagnosed with Behcets Disease, an autoimmune condition that presents itself (for me) with extreme GI pain/inflammation/bleeding, cankersores, joint pain, and skin lesions. Don't know if it's related, but worth mentioning.

Thank you.

[selmaS]

  Not sure, but it is typical of the Drs to look at the top and then work their way down...

It could be a number of things.....

  Make sure he got copies of the MRI and requests copies of the report...this way if he needs to get a 2nd opinion he has all the info....that goes for all testing he has had to date...get copies and keep copies for ur own records.

   Do keep us posted on what u find out.

    "selma"

[tmt731]

Thanks for your response. He's had a ton of MRI's and they can't tell what it is. That's why they did the abdomen CT to see if they could get a different view. I believe it was done with and without contrast.

He does get headaches too. He had the brain scan today but was dazed when they told him why they were doing it and now doesn't remember what the reason was - do you know what they could be looking for?

[selmaS]

  Hi and welcome to the Spinal Cord C/D forum.

  May I ask, does ur DB present with HA's as well?

  Make sure he gets copies of his MRI's and all the reports....and once he has the MRI he will have a better idea as to what is going on.

  Since u have an auto immune condition and  u mentioned the possibility that this may be cartilage was ur DB checked for a condition known as Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome?

   "selma"