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What Causes Recurring Headache, Loss Of Balance, Blurry Vision And Numbness In Fingertips?
Question: My 18 year old son is reporting having a headache in the past two weeks. It comes and goes. He has reported a loss of balance, blur vision at times and lost of feelings on fingertips. He mention there have been three times in the past two weeks where he will think one thing, but the words come out wrong.
Brief Answer:
Recommendations:
Detailed Answer:
Hello and welcome,
Repeated headaches and neurological symptoms such as you described are concerning and need to be evaluated.
He should see a doctor as soon as possible, and the doctor should do a neurological exam, and if there is no obvious cause, a head CT or MRI is next.
Please write out this history and symptoms on paper, as it is easy to forget things when seeing a doctor, and he is having problems expressing himself at times too.
I cannot say specifically what is causing these symptoms. It can be a type of severe migraine, but this would be unusual to see these types of symptoms with migraine. That is why a head CT or MRI is important to rule out more concerning causes of these symptoms, such as a growth (which could be benign or malignant). I don't want to worry you unnecessarily, but your son needs to take action.
If his headache is severe and nothing is helping tonight, he should not wait for an appointment with his doctor, but should go directly to the ER. If your ER is in a major medical center (and sometimes even if it is not), they can do imaging of his brain even tonight.
I hope this information helps. I welcome you to let me know how he is doing after he has been evaluated.
Recommendations:
Detailed Answer:
Hello and welcome,
Repeated headaches and neurological symptoms such as you described are concerning and need to be evaluated.
He should see a doctor as soon as possible, and the doctor should do a neurological exam, and if there is no obvious cause, a head CT or MRI is next.
Please write out this history and symptoms on paper, as it is easy to forget things when seeing a doctor, and he is having problems expressing himself at times too.
I cannot say specifically what is causing these symptoms. It can be a type of severe migraine, but this would be unusual to see these types of symptoms with migraine. That is why a head CT or MRI is important to rule out more concerning causes of these symptoms, such as a growth (which could be benign or malignant). I don't want to worry you unnecessarily, but your son needs to take action.
If his headache is severe and nothing is helping tonight, he should not wait for an appointment with his doctor, but should go directly to the ER. If your ER is in a major medical center (and sometimes even if it is not), they can do imaging of his brain even tonight.
I hope this information helps. I welcome you to let me know how he is doing after he has been evaluated.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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