As some of you know, it is not only me having MS type symptoms, but both my children as well.(years with no dx)

I do not mention my son much, because he doesn't complain much.

The last time he went to the doctor was Oct of 06. Since then, he has refused to go. He says he's accepted that this is the way his life is going to be, so why waste money going to the doctor for them to do more tests and give us no answers.

In Oct of 06 the ENT specialist told my son he had a problem with his brain stem and he needed to see yet another neuro. Since then, my son is just fed up with it all.

The reason for this thread is I'm worried. Actually, he's worried too, but so far doesn't want to go to the doctor.

He is losing WAY too much weight. He's not trying either.
A year ago, he was around 216 pounds. He started working so we felt he was just moving and losing weight. It was actually a good thing. He needed to lose weight.

He started eating better. He would pick whole grains and fruits over other fast foods. He was watching portions.
Not over doing or actually trying to lose weight, just making better choices.
He would still eat pizza and burgers on occassion. He just didn't over do.

At Thanksgiving, he was about 170 and everyone joked that he was the BIGGEST LOSER because he had lost so much weight.

After that is when things started getting kind of scary. He started to lose weight rapidly. Not trying.

I know he's eating. I see how much he eats. He has been eating a lot lately, just trying to gain weight.
He told me how much he weighed last week. Then this weekend he had been in the hot tub and when he came in, he told me he was scared because he was losing more weight. I asked how much he weighted. He was at 161. He had lost 4 more pounds.

There is a huge history of diabetes in our family so I was worried about that. So was he.
We started checking his glucose levels. The first time I checked it, it was 70. That was low considering he had eaten 2 fully loaded hamburgers about 4 hours before and had been drinking soda.

Today we checked it 2 hours after he had eaten and it was fine.
We are going to keep checking but it doesnt look like it's his sugar levels.

I know your thyroid can cause problems like this.

I was just wondering if problems with the brain stem could also cause it? Or other problems in the brain?

Usually losing weight is a good thing, but he's really starting to look sick.
He's been eating as much as he can lately, but he's still not gaining.

It's really getting noticable.(bad)
He says everyone at work keeps telling him it's time to get off the Crack.

Does anyone know if it's possible for problems within the brain to cause weight lose?
The only other symptom he's been having lately is memory and concentration problems, but he's had that all winter.

Sorry this is so long. I'm being a worried mom, I know. You would just have to see him to understand how much weight he's lost. Everyone tells him he's losing too much.

DAY

It's time to go to the doc. His igoring the problem hasn't worked so please do whatever you have to do to convince him to go. If he's eating enough and still losing and not exercising intensively, something is probably up. It's time to get this problem figured out.

DAY, I can sure understand why you're worried! I think a good first step would be to consult your son's PCP. They can certainly run initial tests and it's possible that they might refer you to an endocrinologist...sounds at least possible that it could be something being manufactured (or NOT being manufactured) by the brain but not necessarily neurological. As I'm sure you know, some hormonal conditions can cause MS type sx and are very easy to correct. As for blood sugar and diabetes, an at home test does not really tell the story. It has to be a glucose test, done in a lab over a period of hours. You just drink something and then they take blood a few times over a period of a few hours. Boring, yes, but very non-invasive.

Is it possible that your son would be more receptive going this route instead of to yet another neurologist? I'm unclear as to why the ENT said there's something wrong with his brainstem. Did he do any tests?

Yes, the ENT doc did all the balance testing. From that he said he knew it was not a vision problem or an actual hearing problem. It was a brain stem problem.

At the time the problems my son was having was fluctuating hearing loss, balance issues(especially in the dark) and pretty bad right side weakness.

The specialist said it was due to a problem in the brain stem.

DAY

Day,

You need to haul him to SOME medical doctor....this is really serious and he knows it is.

And I wouldn't hesitate to take him to ER if no doctor can see him THIS week....

He needs tests....

You didn't mention why he's so adament in not going, but I understand that you two have been given the runaround. That is no excuse this time.

Make an appointment, lie to him, if you have to, tell him the appt is for YOU and you need him to go with you this time....

Just get him there.

Knee mail went up.

Good luck.