Dizzy Daegan

I sent this out in an e-mail and thought I'd post it here too:

Daegan, 11, 5th grade, started with a headache and dizziness about five weeks ago.  He gets headaches often, so that wasn't abnormal, but we couldn't get anything to get rid of it.  He doesn't typically get migraines, but we went with Tavis' migraine process and kept trying Gatorade, Advil and ice.  It would alleviate some, but wouldn't touch the dizziness.  After a few days, I took him to the doctor (not our regular pediatrician, but another in the group) and he said it was a migraine that was lasting too long and I was doing the right thing, but he had no other symptoms and no other proof of anything else wrong - being a Mom with high "mommy sense", I was ok with this diagnosis.

Let me say that many of you know that I have struggled immensely with vertigo for three years and have found no doctor to help me.  This dizziness that Daegan has is not like my vertigo.  It is dizziness, not vertigo and his symptoms are completely different from mine.  I can explain in another e-mail if you are interested, but I won't bore the others.

After another few days passed, I took him back to the doctor out of pure frustration for Daeagn.  At this point, his headache had passed but he was still dizzy and he had missed a week and a half of school - even tho he had tried to go a couple different days, only for me to pick him around 10.  He still had no other symptoms, like swollen sinus or ear infection, etc., but I demanded a sinus x-ray, just to ease my mine.  It was clear.  The doctor did many tests with his dizziness and then did many neurological tests.  Since his neuro tests were ok, he asked we give it a little longer and then we would get a CT scan if needed.  Obviously, if anything changed drastically, we were to go to the ER immediately.

Daeg missed the rest of that next week, but slowly began to improve, so we felt we were getting to the other side of this weirdness.  He went to school for two weeks, but this past Sunday he woke up very dizzy again, again with a bad headache.  We went to church, but he was so miserable, I took him home halfway thru church.  I gave it a couple of days and took him back to the doctor on Tuesday.  Again, we saw another doctor (I love being part of a big group b/c I like most of the doctors in our group and it is nice to pull from different opinions) and this doctor did the same dizzy tests and neuro tests our own pediatrician did.  Thankfully, Daegan still passed the neuro tests, but the dizzy ones he failed miserably.  Like, stand up straight - not an option!!  Later, I told him I felt he was over-exaggerating his dizziness a little with the doctors tests - he said he wasn't, the doctor asked him to stand up straight and he usually keeps his knees bent at all times so he doesn't tip over.  So, he is clearly learning to compensate for this dizziness.  Plus, he usually has his hand on something to hold steady if you watch him.  Makes me sad and very frustrated for him.

So, this third doctor appointment is sending us to a pediatric neurologist and to get an MRI.  We've been waiting on insurance approval (to get test done before we see the specialist) and waiting on apt time to see neurologist.  I just got a call that they will do the MRI at 3:30 on Monday.  They will do a regular MRI and then one with contrast.  So he will have to lay still for 45 minutes for the first one and then have the IV of contrast and lay still for the second one.  I was really hoping to get that done today, but we will have to wait it out thru the weekend.

I am sad he is missing so much school, just because he loves to be at school and to learn.  He has now missed almost three weeks and I know he can make up the work fine, but he is missing so many experiments and fun activities.  But I think the anxiety of falling at school is more than his little mind can handle, and with all of my vertigo experience, I can understand way more than he knows!

So, we hope to have some answers next week, but with the test so late on Monday, I think we will have to wait until Tuesday to know anything from that.  Plus, if it comes back clear, we will still have to wait to see the neurologist?  All the while, trying to keep his spirits up.  He is a big reader, but hasn't done a lot of reading b/c he says it is hard to concentrate.  All the doctors keep asking me if I am sure he didn't hit his head or something?  It is almost like they want it to be a bad concussion, but there has been no injury that we know of?

Pray as we wait.  Pray for Daegan to be healed.  Pray for answers.  And pray for Mommy's anxiety.