Nuerology Mystery?

[martyj2015]

Symptoms

My brother is  a 26 year old, generally healthy male. Early This year he started to get forgetful, which got worse over the coming months. He began getting confused at simple tasks, forgetting his route home, which he had travelled for years. Then his speech started to be affected, he started to stutter when speaking and the GP diagnosed him with Depression and put him on anti-depressants.

Since then he has been hospitalised, is now unable to speak (he does say odd words but stutters the rest of the sentence), he his getting confused about his current surroundings, losing control of his bladder function and seems to have lost the ability to read/write.

His condition, whatever it is seems to be deteriorating at a rapid rate and after a number of tests detailed below we still have no idea what is wrong him.

He is currently in the Royal hospital, in Liverpool.

Tests

2 x MRI scan over a 2 month period
CT Scan
Lumbar Puncture (clear liquid, initial tests reported nothing unusual)
EEG Scan (performed by Walton hospital, waiting on results)
Number of blood tests

Results So far

The only things that have shown on the brain scans so far have shown that he has a few dead brain cells (which is apparently normal) and his brain has shrunk slightly since his last scan a month ago.

He has also been diagnosed with MRSA (the hospital bug) recently and been placed in his own room on the ward.

We are still waiting on further results from the lumbar puncture, which have been sent to Scotland for further analysis.

Does anyone have any ideas what his condition could be? are they doing the right tests? missed any?

Any help would be appreciated

[skydnsr]

I've been thinking about your post for the past few days, and up until now I have not answered it, because I do not have an answer for you, but I have  decided just to share some of my thoughts, FWIW.  First of all, what has happened to your brother is obviously pretty devastating, and I'm so sorry for the situation.  From your comments, the CT and MRI scans evidently have not shown any kind of tumor, blood clot, or other structural abnormality, aside from the fact that "his brain has shrunk slightly since his last scan a month ago."  Any measurable shrinkage (the medical term is atrophy) in only one month's time is remarkable, and especially so at age 26.  Middle-aged and elderly people often have some degree of brain atrophy that can be considered normal, but not 26 year-olds.  I'm not a doctor, but I work in the psychology field, and a finding of measurable atrophy in one month's time -- in a 26 year-old -- really jumps out at me.  Rapidly progressing brain atrophy in a 26 year-old is, I think, a big  deal.  

The other thing that occurs to me is that the doctors HAVE to have some idea of what the diagnostic possibilities are.  I think they probably are playing it close to the vest, possibly so that they don't have to explain a bunch of diagnoses to the family that don't turn out, in the final analysis, to be your brother's diagnosis.  But they have to be working through a list of possibilities and using the test results to eliminate things off the list, as they go.  Your brother has had a lot of tests already, so I think it is reasonable for the family to ask the doctors, "what are the possible causes of my brother's problems, at this point?  What possibilities are left, that you have not yet eliminated?"  If you do decide to press the doctors for answers, I don't have any idea what they will say, but I know there does come a time when anything is better than not knowing.  I will be hoping for the best for your brother.

[dhicks19]

Hi. Get tested for lymes disease at a proper lab. UK has poor testing for lymes and it can be easily missed.

Look at armin labs in germany. Its around 350 to send blood from UK to germa y.

Its still worth asking NHS to test him for it. Although not many drs believe in it and have no knowledge.