Need a handhold - son in hospital

[HaudYerWheeshtYaWeeBellend]

Took him to A&E yesterday as he fell at the gym and we thought he had broken his wrist (thankfully just a sprain) however during their examinations they were worried about his circulation as his hands and lower arms were going blue and were cold to the touch, they advised we needed to make an appointment with his GP for further investigation.

Managed to get a GP appointment for 3pm today as the hospital suspect he could possibly have Raynaud's syndrome/disease

GP took his blood pressure and it was 177/127 , they thought the machine was faulty so got a another one and it was the same.

We had to take him straight to A&E, they’ve been trying to get bloods for the last 6 hrs but his veins keep collapsing and are unable to obtain his bloods, 2 doctors and 3 nurses have all tried with all sorts of needle sizes/cannulas etc… even with a vein scan machine, he’s been poked and prodded more times than we an count,

They’ve done a serious of tests, ECG, blood pressure cuffs on his arms and lower legs every 60 mins.

His only symptoms are some slight dizziness and some blurred vision, because of this they carried out a test where they turned the lights off and shown a torch in his eye… however the drs body language changed, she went and got her senior doctor to look and they redone the test.

We were then told to wait in the room as they needed to speak to a more senior doctor.

We were then put into a room, nurse came in about 45 mins later and advised he was being admitted, we asked why and she said has no one told you anything and we said no.

Doctor has come in and said DS is being transferred to another hospital, either tonight or tomorrow morning, he needs to see an specialist eye doctor , he also needs a urgent CT scan, possibly MRI and a heart scan as his ECG has shown some concerns and did we know he had a heart murmur.

They also need to get his bloods urgently somehow.

I’m not naive, I know what they are suspecting, I just need to be positive and hopefully the scans show nothing.

Hand hold from me. Hope you get answers soon and your DS gets the right treatment x

Good luck op he’s on the right place and they will get to the bottom of it

Hope they get to the bottom of the problem soon. As a rugby mum it is a worry, fortunately or rather unfortunately my DS has “glass “ shoulders so has not been able to continue with a serious rugby career as a result.

Teo things spring to mind, has your son had any viral infections in the last few months, it is possibly myocarditis. And, since he plays at a high level, is he regularly monitored for cardio. For example regular medical including ECGs. Does the squad have a doctor you can contact for medical history.

Myocarditis is a problem in elite athletes, most people don’t push their bodies hard enough for symptoms to become obvious.

Another possibility in view of the heart murmur is endocarditis. Has he had any dental treatment recently? Such as a clean or an extraction. Combined with a heart murmur it’s a rare but possible cause of heart valve damage. The chronic symptoms you describe may fit this.

My niece developed a heart murmur as a child. It wasn’t present at birth and would have gone undiagnosed if she hadn’t had meningitis. It wasn’t present only picked up during post infection check up. It is a progressive murmur and needed surgery in her teens and she will need further surgery in her 30s. She’s very athletic so we think that due to a better cardio vascular fitness level the condition was hidden.

The good news is that he is very fit and young. Modern cardio medicine is excellent and they have referred him to a top centre rapidly.

We are now at the RVI and they managed to get bloods first time 🙂now has a lovely cannula fitted.

Ds is not taking any steroids, I’d bet my own life on it, doctors are aware of the supplements he’s uses (no electrolytes) he uses them for body recovery on a nighttime (Healf brand)

The consultant he needs to see is currently in theatre, so just waiting to see what next steps are.

BP just taken and is 170/72, slight headache and blurry vision, refusing pain medication 🙄.

Glad he is there and they are able to look at his bloods now. Good luck to you all

That's interesting. My brother has Raynauds and we both have hypothyroidism. I had no idea Raynauds was an autoimmune thing as well.

Have they said what they are looking for/suspecting? My son had nausea a few episodes of vomiting and fatigue, particularly after sports matches he would look like he was going to collapse but then recover and be absolutely fine.
Looking back he had a lot more accidents (tripping over, dropping tings) and his sports performance had slightly declined.
An eye exam showed he had swollen optic nerves which turned out to be a brain tumour (cancer) . This is a lot more common in children and young people than people think. He did not have high blood pressure or circulation issues.
I just want to prepare you as the doctors response from the eye exam, coordination, nausea, dizziness could be something affecting the brain, not necessarily tumour could be lots of other things e.g infection. I would find it helpful to ask what they are investigating.
Have they done any neurology tests e.g. turning his hand over and over, touching his nose and then their finer, walking in a straight line?

My experience of phlebotomy at the RVI is that they can get blood out of a stone, painlessly and first time every time. Experts.

Hope they get you a result soonish.

Sending positive vibes to you and your son

@HaudYerWheeshtYaWeeBellend You made good time getting to newcastle!! hope ambulance ride wasnt too bumpy for you or your son. hopefully the consultant there will get to the bottom of whatever is going on and help resolve things. good luck to your son. xxx

Another possibility in view of the heart murmur is endocarditis. Has he had any dental treatment recently? Such as a clean or an extraction. Combined with a heart murmur it’s a rare but possible cause of heart valve damage. The chronic symptoms you describe may fit this

He’s just had fixed braces fitted on the 7th May, before hand he needed 2 teeth extracted and 2 very small fillings.

il mentioned this to the consultant when he comes.

Hope you get some answers soon and it can be sorted out quickly and he's on the mend. Don't forget to keep yourself fueled etc during this stressful time especially with lack of sleep x

How scary. I really hope you get answers soon. Good shout about the dental work.

Such a worrying time but glad that he seems to be getting great care and attention

Lots of test being done and thankfully they have managed to get bloods. Hopefully you'll know more today.

Take care.

Really hope you get to the bottom of this soon and it’s nothing too serious, you must be so worried 💕

Dd pretty much took it in her stride, she's a stoical soul, couple of times she was upset, but mostly she just cracked on.

She's currently on three different meds (five tablets a day) to keep her around 125/70, and unless they find a specific underlying cause, for example adrenal issue (waiting for results for that) then yes, it could be for life. She is being titrated up on one and down on another to take her off it if possible though as it's not ideal as a long term option.

One doctor even suggested it could be because she's very tall (99th centile) as that can sometimes cause high bp apparently?!

Sub acute endocarditis is a bit like low grade flu. Extractions with a heart murmur used to be covered with antibiotics. They stopped doing this some years ago but cardiologists advise antibiotics post valve surgery and to avoid piercings and tattoos.

I’m a dentist so have to risk assess with every patient. Obviously an undiagnosed heart murmur can’t be assessed.

My DHs father died in his mid 20s from sub acute endocarditis (1964) and with my nieces valve issues we have a particular interest in the disease. Please don’t panic with this info. but as his advocate any extra info will help with a rapid diagnosis. The process is often less about finding out what is wrong and more about excluding what is not wrong.

Modern health screening and advances mean that we rarely see problems, but unusual stuff still happens.

There is also a link with Covid and myocarditis so if he has had Covid like symptoms over the last few months let them know.

Hopefully it is just mild inflammation of the heart muscle which with rest will self heal.

After the pandemic I arranged for DS to have an ECG to check his heart before he went back to training and playing. Like your DS he is tall and naturally athletic so people assume they are really healthy.

After this episode your DS is likely to have regular check ups which will hopefully give you peace of mind.

Good point. I know someone who had pericarditis at 15. Possibly from strep throat infection. Then endocarditis a few years later. Very ill at the time. Long spell in hospital. Technology not what it is today.

They’re now v healthy and living their best life in their 50s.

Thinking of you ❤️

Can I just thank everyone for all the your replies, last night was extremely daunting, it’s good to hear all your experiences (good and bad) to highlight other conditions and other possible factors.

They haven’t mentioned anything to us about suspected illness, we know they want a head CT and a MRI , examination of his eyes, and a heart scan.

New harsh systolic murmur left sternal edge, is what’s on his notes.

I have found this very helpful, thank you.
I didn't wish to derail this thread, but DH has dental issues and has recently been found to have heart issues. I had no idea these were linked.

@HaudYerWheeshtYaWeeBellend wishing you and your DS all the best

Sending hugs and hand squeezes.
im glad the hospital are taking good care of him.

Hand hold.
Glad you've got transferred to the hospital.

I'm another parent whose child made much use of hospital facilities, the stays, the worries are grim. Hoping they get to the bottom of his illness ASAP.

I couldn’t just scroll by and not send a ‘hand hold’. I hope your son gets a diagnosis soon and a treatment plan in place. You must be worried sick 💐

Yep. Really good feedback which is hopefully useful to OP.

I too have nothing useful to add (not medical), but from one rugby mum to another, I wish you and your lovely DS all the very best and hope he gets a diagnosis quickly and that's is something that's either not too serious or something that can be treated fully