Constricted blood vessel in my son's brain??

Does anybody know how serious this is??My 16 year old son has been having headaches since Thanksgiving. Let me say he lives with his mom in Virginia. Anyway, His doctors thought it might be Migraines, but no. Test after test after test. Nothin.. I get a call from his mom tonight and she tells me that he has a constricted blood vessel in his brain. The doc's are putting him on some med's for 10 days and If his condition doesn't change there isn't anything they can do....I was like WTF!! NOTHIN YOU CAN DO!!

I called my friend. He's a cardiac nurse at a hospital called Brigham and Womens in Boston. One of the top Hospitals in the country. He said that he has seen cases where condition gets better and cases not so good. He says it depends on many factors. I just can't believe that the doctor would say that over the phone. As you could imagine, my ex was freakin out and crying..

I understand you can't diagnose over the internet..Anybody know someone with this condition??

I got nothin' to offer my brother. I wish I did. I debated even responding because of that. I hardly ever pray and I know that doesn't mean much but I will pray for your son. I wish I had more to offer...

Thank you..I really appreciate it..I wasn't sure if I should talk about this. I was just wondering if anybody ever heard of this. I've googled it and didn't get much info. Since I'm always on this great site, and with all the brilliant guys and gals on this forum. I thought I'd ask...

I'll look, too. Ain't never heard of it but it can't hurt if another person looks for it...

Wow....my thoughts are with you guys!!!!

Damn, I hope all is well with your son. Wish him the best.

Allergies can start at any moment. My ol' lady became allergic to dairy and began having terrible perpetual headaches in her pre-teens. It took several years and doctors to fail at diagnosing the problem. It ended up being an herbalist to set her straight. I hope it can be as simple as that for your son. My prayers go out to you and yours.

best wishes. I hope your son recovers in full.

"Constricted Blood Vessel" can mean alot of different things; is it constricted because it didn't form properly in utero? Is it constricted because of a plaque that formed there or a clot that traveled there from somewhere else? Is there an arterio-venous malformation? Is something else going on?
It sounds like it is an anatomic issue because it is so chronic. If it is in an accessible artery, it can sometimes be stented similar to the way they stent coronary arteries; but if it is in the Circle of Willis or somewhere else deep in the brain, neurosurgeons often won't touch it because of the high risk of complications during the procedure. My guess is that they put him on aspirin and/or a blood-thinner, and/or a smooth muscle relaxant (nitroglycerine, etc)?
I am not a neurosurgeon or a neurologist, but my suggestion is for him to see one of the above specialists (if he hasn't already), because this would be an issue that they are familiar with. They have more experience with brain problems than any other specialist.
As far as "nothing they can do," it probably is regarding his headaches. It doesn't necessarily mean that something terrible will happen if the meds don't work. Can't say for sure without more info.
To help you further, I would need a little more info regarding his diagnosis. I hope this helps.

Sorry to hear what you're going through. Would need more info to really help but for now make sure your son takes the meds and keep him from doing anything real strenuous including (and I know this sounds funny but there is a reason for it) making sure he eats a lot of bran so he's not straining on the toilet.

this actually is something very similar to an issue a cousin of mine has. His issue is an inherited thing from his father, but it could be a recessive or largely dormant disorder in your son's case.

For my cousin, the issue had more to do with the blood being too thick or something like that, I cant really remember, but he complained of headaches constantly too.

I wont suggest any treatment as I'm neither a doctor or any kind of qualified to suggest anything beyond seeing a neurology specialist and see what they think. I"m hoping its nothing too bad, 16 is still way too young to be having major medical problems to me.

Although I dont start med school until the fall, I have a masters in clinical forensic medicine so I will chime in as well. What purdygood said is pretty much the situation. He is young no? So I am thinking its not some sort of arteriosclerotic change. Hopefully hopefully its not an AVM. More likely just a stenosed vessel which is most likely benign outside of the headaches. You tend to worry more about dilatations/aneyurisms in my experience. Anyways, hang in there my friend...I am sure you are over thinking this in the setting of not getting the full story.

bobthebiker said:

this actually is something very similar to an issue a cousin of mine has. His issue is an inherited thing from his father, but it could be a recessive or largely dormant disorder in your son's case.

For my cousin, the issue had more to do with the blood being too thick or something like that, I cant really remember, but he complained of headaches constantly too.

I wont suggest any treatment as I'm neither a doctor or any kind of qualified to suggest anything beyond seeing a neurology specialist and see what they think. I"m hoping its nothing too bad, 16 is still way too young to be having major medical problems to me.

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hemochromatosis??

That might be what it was, we never discussed it specifically though. I personally think he sat in front of his computer playing WoW too much, and it sure didnt help him any.

Thanks for all your kind words and prayers... He just started on a medication and has to be on it for 10 days. Hopefully it will help..His headache is in the back of his head. I hope to have more information in the next few days or so. He's going stir crazy at home because the doctor doesn't want him to run around and get that blood pumping.

aaronwillen said:

hemochromatosis??

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Hemochromatosis is a disorder in iron metabolism in which hemosiderin gets deposited in your body's tissues and usually causes liver and heart problems first. It is doubtful that hemochromatosis is a primary cause of chronic headache. Also, symptoms of hemochromatosis usually don't appear until later in life. Good thought, but unlikely. You will be good at developing a differential diagnosis in medical school.

Bull's Beers, try to figure out what the diagnosis and/or medication is, and I might be able to give you a little more info. My thoughts and prayers are with your son.

Real nice choice of thread to spam. Reported.

In real life, I work at Duke. Call 1800-MED DUKE and ask for an appointment with one of their headache neurologists, bring the MRI scan or CT scan that the doctors used to make the diagnosis. Most of virginia is only 3-4 hours from Duke.

Johns Hopkins in Baltimore has a good neurology group as well.

If they are closer to Philadelphia, there is a nationally/internationally known headache clinic there (Jefferson Headache Clinic) that would be able to tell your son what was really going on.

"constricted blood vessels" don't cause symptoms like headache normally, and this could be anything from a crummy description of migraines, to a congenital abnormality that is not serious, to something that is more serious. (and if it is serious, medications would not be the answer anyways)

Your son needs to see someone that can give you and your family a real answer.

feel free to PM me about this

tim

aaronwillen said:

Although I dont start med school until the fall, I have a masters in clinical forensic medicine so I will chime in as well. What purdygood said is pretty much the situation. He is young no? So I am thinking its not some sort of arteriosclerotic change. Hopefully hopefully its not an AVM. More likely just a stenosed vessel which is most likely benign outside of the headaches. You tend to worry more about dilatations/aneyurisms in my experience. Anyways, hang in there my friend...I am sure you are over thinking this in the setting of not getting the full story.

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Beat me to the avm comment. Has he has a mra or ct angiogram interventional angiogram or anything more In depth. Just headaches? No vision changes. Nausea or vertigo? I am no doc but I am a ct technologist at a level one stroke and trauma center. Look up a good neuro doc and get a second opinion. It is nothing to play with at 16 years old Hopefully you never hear avm again. Prayers and thoughts to your boy.

lex990 said:

Beat me to the avm comment. Has he has a mra or ct angiogram interventional angiogram or anything more In depth. Just headaches? No vision changes. Nausea or vertigo? I am no doc but I am a ct technologist at a level one stroke and trauma center. Look up a good neuro doc and get a second opinion. It is nothing to play with at 16 years old Hopefully you never hear avm again. Prayers and thoughts to your boy.

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He actually beat you to it by about 3 years(look at the date of his post)
Anyway, since I'm here, I hope everything worked out for the best with the OP's son.

Yeah I'm kinda bad about looking at post dates. Still hoping for the best

Yea, I've been known to bring a thread back from zombieland myself. Cheers!!!