Yes, I'm Asking for Medical Advice on the Internet, Sort Of

Parent Cafe
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<p>S1 has had more than his share of medical problems. He is, generally, a healthy 26-year-old, but as I look at all the medical problems he’s had over the years, I wonder if there’s a theme here, or something he should be doing to avoid these problems.</p>

<p>When he was 13, he had atypical symptoms of appendicitis, so it wasn’t diagnosed until his appendix had burst and he had a raging infection. He had surgery; they removed a foot of bowel; he was in the hospital for a week; and he recovered.</p>

<p>A year later, he had a pilonidal cyst. It was drained and treated with antibiotics, and then about six months later he had surgery to remove the entire cyst.</p>

<p>During his teens and early 20s, he suffered from abdominal pains caused, all the docs said, from surgical adhesions from the stomach surgery. He was told there was nothing to be done about them, that they would come and go, and that they were not serious. Of course, they were extremely painful, and he occasionally missed work because of them.</p>

<p>In June 2010, while playing rugby, he severely broke and displaced his nose. He had one surgery to repair it somewhat a few days after the accident and another surgery six months later. (The surgeon had told us it would have to be repaired in two operations.)</p>

<p>Two weeks before the second surgery, he was admitted to the hospital through the ER due to a bowel obstruction. Apparently those surgical adhesions can do more than cause pain. He had a nasogastric tube inserted and, after a day or so, the obstruction cleared up and things were moving again.</p>

<p>He’s had several cysts removed from various parts of his body – sort of cystic acne, I guess, but not only on his face, but on his chest and back.</p>

<p>Last weekend was something new: He called me to report a “swollen nose.” I was afraid something had happened from the srugery he had seven months ago, but no – it turns out he had an infected cyst in his nose. The hospital he went to treated it aggresively, given its proximity to his brain, with three doses of IV antibiotics as well as two types of oral antibiotics. </p>

<p>And there there are the normal boy-typical sports injuries – broken fingers, separated shoulder, etc.</p>

<p>Should I be worried about him, or is this all just random stuff?? And if I should be worried, what should I do?</p>

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<p>Interesting pattern of cyst development; I’m not a doctor (nor do I play one on TV), but I wonder if an immunological workup is in order…</p>

<p>My daughter was experiencing continual bacterial throat infections (not strep) w dangerously high fevers requiring hospitalization. Turned out she was horribly low on a titer? Sp. for infections. One vaccination did the trick…</p>

<p>We were referred to an immunologist from our internist. Did a complete blood Workup to figure out the problem…</p>

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<p>Thanks, Rodney. Interestingly, when S1 was about 15, I asked his pediatrician if there could be something wrong with his immune system. He did some sort of blood tests and said no. I think I’ll follow up with that. An immunologist, you say??</p>

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<p>Has he been tested for celiac disease?</p>

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<p>Dmd: I actually thought about that (since d has that ) but alot of the OP’s son’s symptoms don’t jive w how that presents ; an immunologist would be able to catch that as well though. </p>

<p>Very happy: our d’s pediatrician did bloodwork as well with no results; the immunologist’s script for the bloodwork was a very diff panel and approach; he was actually looking for an immune system weakness (and found it)</p>

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<p>No, he has not been tested for celiac disease. Why does that come to mind??</p>

<p>When I look up immunologist, I find specialists in “allergy and immunology.” Is that what I’m looking for?</p>

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<p>Yup…but try to find one that has immunology first if u can</p>

<p>Can u get a recommendation from your family doctor?</p>

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<p>Celiac was what i was gonna say. dmd beat me to it ;3</p>

<p>However, it shouldn’t be ruled out. It does major damage to the digestive system and is an auto immune disorder.</p>

<p>(whats up with this rofl, i have it as well ;3)</p>

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<p>Well, his appendicitis was appendicitis, and his burst appendix was a burst appendix. No denying that. The sugical adhesions as a cause of the stomach pains always made sense to me. You’re thinking celiac disease could be causing the pains?</p>

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<p>I’d look for the best training hospital in the area, and schedule a consult. I’ve worked with many physicians who are tops in their fields, “the doctor’s doctor”. People in my current living area travel to Pittsburgh, Miami, Boston, NY, Baltimore, Ark., & Texas to get a Dx and Tx protocal.</p>

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<p>When you get the script for the bloodwork ask them to include a celiac panel. It could be ; you never know</p>

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<p>I wonder if there is a connection between the horrible infection that resulted from his burst appendix and the infection showing up as cysts. Seems like his problems started with the burst appendix. I have no medical training, so maybe this isn’t possible, but I wonder if there could still be bacteria harbored somewhere in his body that keep cropping back up as various infections. I’ve heard of people harboring strep bacteria for long periods of time without being continually sick, so I wonder if the infections are all connected somehow.</p>

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<p>It seems to me that his burst appendix and surgery is something that might be tied to some of his other problems. His broken nose from rugby is a natural side effect of that sport–my son did the same thing. </p>

<p>Your son has had problems that my 3 oldest have had in the last 5 years, but it’s spread out among the 3 of them. But my son’s appendix did not burst and he had a clean appendectomy. The one with the broken nose had few further problems after it was fixed. He did get swollen lymph nodes which caused me to panic and make him come home, since this is my kid who had lymphoma and presented that way. The oncologists who checked him out said that this was not atypical after a trauma such as the broken nose and the surgery to fix it. My other son had a benign growth in his a part of his salivary gland and needed major surgery to remove it. I’ve been told that it is common for this to return, and that there are those with a propensity for cysts, tumors, etc, So if you get certain growths of that sort, the chances are higher than average of repeats. </p>

<p>One of my kids has been in the hospital at least 3 times for “stuff”. The appendectomy, a severely cut hand, a broken jaw. All unconnected events. But I jump when that phone rings.</p>

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<p>Celiac damages the intestans causeing abdomanal cramping in most people in responce to gluten (i for one am one).</p>

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<p>I wonder if there is any connection / statistical correlation between celiac disease, even lower level gluten intolerance
and:
acne
appendicitis</p>

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<p>I am not a doctor but 30 odd years ago my husband who was in is twenties kept getting appendicitis like symptoms - severe debilitating pain, nausea, vomiting etc. and was hospitalized several times with extremely high white blood counts all pointing to appendicitis. Then all the symptoms would magically disappear (no medication), his elevated white blood count would drop to normal and he would be released from the hospital (several episodes). We finally found a doctor who listened and observed and diagnosed “Chronic” Appendicitis (many docs at the time did not believe in this) and he had his appendix removed before it burst. The surgeon that operated on him and had just recently (at the time) authored a paper on that very subject believed it to be the precursor for “Acute” appendicitis. His own son had presented with the same symptoms. He believed that removing the appendix would relieve all the symptoms and it did.</p>

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<p>Very interesting. I’m going to pursue this with someone.</p>

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<p>There are a couple different kinds of cysts, but in general, skin bacteria are different than gut bacteria.</p>

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<p>I know nothing about this, but if it were my kid and I could afford it, I’d go to something like the Leahy Clinic or the Mayo Clinic and have everything tested. I don’t think you know enough at this point to say it’s about his immune system.</p>

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<p>Yes, true, but this last particular cyst isn’t dermatologic; it’s in his nose. The other cysts he’s had – on his chest, on his back – have required excision to get rid of them. So I’m suspicious that they’re not due to bacteria that everyone has on his/her skin.</p>