Is this likely to be a tumour? Or something else… or nothing?

[Pumpernickelsoup]

I could really do with any experience or advice from anybody who’s had similar, I’m worrying quite a bit and I do get anxious about things but I’m not sure if this is me just looking into things too much or not.
I have a 15, nearly 16 year old son who I’m worried about right now.
He has been getting headaches and backache in the centre of his back, between his shoulder blades but a bit lower and sometimes it goes down to his lower back since roughly the summer last year.
I will often get calls from school saying he’s in pain with a headache and nauseous and paracetamol often doesn’t resolve them. He wakes up with them a fair bit but they can also come on later in the day. He says they feel a bit better when he lays down flat and closes his eyes.
We had a doctor appointment a couple of months ago for these issues as they weren’t resolving and the doctor put it down to the fact he likes to game and uses a chrome book at school.
I didn’t think the doctor could be wrong but the headaches haven’t resolved (and the back pain is still present) so I booked an opticians appointment as he was fairly due just to check if it’s his eyes that could be causing the headaches.
This appointment was last week and the optician noticed that one pupil is now larger than the other and is not responding to light properly.
He referred us to the GP as an urgent referral and we were seen today.
The GP sent us straight to the child assessment unit at the hospital where he saw two nurses one after the other.
Amongst the words used were “RAPD left eye”, “margin blurred and Ill defined margin” and “urgent opthamalogical” which I have looked up online and have really worried me.
We got sent home from the hospital today but have to be back first thing in the morning for an appointment to examine his eyes at the hospital and from there it will be decided if he needs an urgent head scan tomorrow or if he will be on a 4-6 week wait but either way he needs a head scan.
The only other thing I’m concerned about is that he is VERY tired allot of the time and is low on energy regularly but I’d just put this down to him struggling to sleep and being a teenager with a school, social and family life.
Has anybody else had this sort of experience and what has it turned out to be?

Thank you @BuddhaForMary, I hope your daughters headaches resolve soon, hopefully for her it’s a similar cause to what they think it is for my son.

So pleased to read the update OP, great news.

Pumpernickel new glasses on Friday so fingers crossed!

Oh my goodness! I am so relieved for you! It all sounded so frightening and I was worried and have been thinking about you all day! Thank goodness all is ok! Have a nice hot bath and a glass of wine tonight!

So relieved to read your update op.

Something similar happened to my dd, headaches, backache, after trips back and forth to gp, she had a
Chest X-ray and scoliosis of the back was picked up (curvature of the spine) and that is causing these symptoms. It's not noticeable just to look at her back.

@Gosports

Hi Op, I don’t have any experience of the eye symptoms but I was sent for a head mri because of a suspected brain tumour. My GP said he was 99% certain I didn’t have one but wanted to be sure, as he said patients who he’d seen with tumours had fits and numbness. So assuming your DS hasn’t had those, it’s hopefully something else. Best of luck today.

Just for information *@Gosports* (and obviously I can now state this without worrying OP even more), fits and numbness are only two of the possible symptoms of brain tumours - there are many others. So I’m sure that your GP was just trying to reassure you, but saying that you were unlikely to have a brain tumour because you didn’t have fits and numbness is wrong.

Glad the scan went well. I have two different sized pupils; in my case it’s Adie’s pupil as a result of peripheral neuropathy which is due to low b12 and pernicious anaemia. It can be related to diabetes (ruled out for me) and autoimmune disease (not enough testing done to decide this, I’m waiting for a neurologist appointment to rule out MS). It might be worth requesting some bloods if they haven’t been done already to rule out low b12; I’ve had tiredness and headaches since a teen but the pupil thing only came on suddenly in 2018 though

I'm so pleased for you.

I have a 6'2" 15 year old and he went through a phase of severe dizziness which they put down to the sudden growth spurts.

I'm so glad things are ok.

So pleased for you OP. God, kids are such a worry aren't they?

@Pumpernickelsoup

Thank you all, Just an update… everything is fine! I’m so relieved! They Did allot of different eye examinations this morning and took some detailed photography of the optic nerves and the full insides of his eyes and they have said that there is nothing that looks unusual and they’re no longer concerned! They sent us back to the paediatric department after the eye department to see what they wanted to do but they were happy to discharge him as everything looked so healthy in the imaging! They’ve said it’s just one of those things that sometimes a pupil can become larger than the other but they’re not concerned at the hospital like they were at the optician about his pupil reacting to light and have said it responds well in their tests. They’ve put the headaches down to slight long sightedness which he will have glasses for for working on his chrome book and reading etc and the backache because he’s grown allot and is 6 foot tall! I expect the tiredness is just a part of being a nearly 16 year old with a busy life! I’m so so relieved, I was so worried! I should have just slept and waited for today rather than posting but my mind wouldn’t let me rest! Really appreciate the messages and the well wishes though!

This has given me goosebumps! I'm so delighted for you.

Thank you for your well wishes 💐

I’m so glad there’s no tumour but if you can afford it I would go private to try and find why he does have the headaches and back pain

Brilliant news! Onward and upward!