I was wondering if anyone had any advice, experience or knowledge about medical conditions that could cause a child's development to go 'backwards'?
My son and nephew are both 3 and a half years old. They both walked and talked and mastered potty training at the same time as each other so the differences are really obvious to us as they used to be the same but now it seems like my nephew is turning into a baby again.
I know that sounds like a stupid thing to say, but we're not imagining this. He has started to have trouble walking and he seems to walk on his tiptoes and it's like he has no balance or co-ordination now and he seems to lurch forwards like he's falling instead of walking smoothly. He gets tired so quickly now that he's no longer able to walk and he has to use a pushchair for even the 5 minute walking distance to his nursery school. His GP says that he has 'floppy muscles' and extremely poor muscle tone. She said we should be 'concerned rather than alarmed' but I don't think she really is aware of how dramatic this change actually is.
He used to be a right little chatterbox but he was talking to me today and he was slurring his words so badly that I couldn't understand anything he said. I said to my sister 'his speech has gone right downhill!' I didn't mean to put it so bluntly but I just blurted it out in shock. She said 'I'm glad you said that because I wasn't sure if it was in my mind' I said 'no it's not all in your mind, I can see it more clearly because I don't see him everyday and the difference is really obvious you need to mention this to his GP'
Then she told me that he is back in nappies, he has been potty trained for over a year but now he can no longer control his bladder or bowels. So he learned to talk and walk and mastered potty training but now he is losing his ability to walk and talk and he has totally lost his potty training.
The difference is even more obvious to us because he is exactly the same age as my son and they used to be the same but it seems now as if my nephew is going backwards not forwards.
I hate to say this, but I think it might be something serious? Has anyone heard of a non-serious condition that this might be?
Could it be something to do with the emotional trauma that he's suffered?
I don't want to go into that in too much detail here, but his father was a violent, abusive sex offender. Obviously my sister left him instantly when this came out but essentially my nephew was treated with violence, witnessed violence towards his pregnant mother and lost his home, his father, his pets, his toys and belongings and 2 siblings in a single day and then his mum had another baby.
Thank God, he was never sexually abused but he still witnessed terrible violence against his pregnant mother and was violently attacked himself and then lost everything in his life and then his mother had another baby so he's been through a lot.
He's being tested at the moment and I work at the hospital and I know the consultant who is dealing with him. I talked to him on Thursday and I knew from his face that it was bad news but he wouldn't tell me anything because it has to be done properly and just because I'm a medical secretary for his colleague (another consultant) doesn't mean than he is able to breach patient confidentiality but I'm going out of my mind with worry. At one point his eyes actually filled up with tears and I'm going crazy here. I would say that the 'not knowing' is the worst part, but I don't want to tempt fate by saying that. I know that they know what is wrong with him, I've worked that much out but we haven't got a diagnosis yet and I'm totally freaking out with anxiety in case it might be something that is life-limiting?
Does anyone know of a medical condition that is not life limiting that this might be? Maybe the consultant was emotional because of my sister telling him about how hard it's been for her and her children recently and I'm adding 2 and 2 and getting 5 or something?
I'd be so grateful for an external perspective that might say that I'm just being over anxious and it's not as serious as I think it might be. We have to wait for the consultant to write a letter to the GP and then my sister is going to be called into the hospital to get the results but that could take another 10 days. I'm getting so anxious about this. I know it's bad news but I don't know how bad. I know consultants see a lot, so do I when I type up all the letters that they write to each other but it just freaks me out that he cried when he told me that he couldn't 'divulge anything at this point'. Is it at all possible that my nephew has some condition that is life-long and will require lots of work but that it isn't life-limiting?
Jeez. Sorry for how long this all is...