no MRI after an open head injury of a two year old

[charris628]

When I was 2yrs old I fell from the very top of a 10ft slide. I hit the jagged piece of concrete that anchored the slide to the ground, head first. My dad rushed me to the hospital, he said I cried the whole way there so I don't think I lost consciousness. He said my skull was exposed so I had 11 stitches inside my head and 15+ stitches on the outside. They did not do an MRI or a CAT scan and they didn't keep me after stitching me back up. This was in 1987, should they have done any test or is that normal? I am now 25 and have quite a few medical problems as well as some undiagnosed symptoms. I have idiopathic hypersomnolence, migraines, gastritis, esophagitis, duodenitis, endometriosis, keratosis pilaris, shortness of breath, spells of being lightheaded, vertigo, and unexplained occasional uneven pupils.  sometimes half of my face and one ear will turn blood red and feel warm to the touch, other times why whole face and both ears will do it. Sometimes my thighs will turn red and feel warm to the touch as well. I have had this blotchy rash thats a redish purple color on my arms and legs for the past month. my hands and feet sometimes turn blueish purple and sometimes they swell and turn red and hurt to move them but at the same time they kind of itch. My thigh muscles constantly feels tense so there tired and hurt making it very uncomfortable to climb stairs, I have joint pain in the mornings and hip pain all of the time! I have a lot of things going on that I don't know what is related to what. I get sick all of the time and stay sick for long periods of time. Is there anything an MRI would show that could cause any of this? I have seen an ophthalmologist for the headaches and uneven pupils and he has suggested an MRI. I was just wondering if my childhood head injury would have caused any problems and if so would they show up now, or is it to late? would there be any records still around of that trip to the hospital, does anyone know how we could get a copy of those records?

[Dr. Kokil Mathur]

Hi
Welcome to the MedHelp forum!
The head injury you suffered so long back may not be the cause of your present day symptoms. Unequal pupils but the difference between the two pupils being less than 2mm is physiological variation. If it is more than 2 mm then it could be due to pathologic anisocoria. This is due to an abnormality in the musculature of the iris or in the parasympathetic or sympathetic innervations to the pupil. Rarely is it the effect of brain injury if there are no other neurological symptoms.
Hypersomnolence could be due to chronic inadequate sleep, improper sleep pattern, sleep apnea or other such sleep related disorders. Hence a sleep study should be done. Severe anemia, diabetes, low Vit B12 and low Vit D are the other causes. All these can also cause spells of light headedness and vertigo.
You also appear to be having allergy to something and hence need a complete allergy panel.
First discuss these possibilities with your doctor and get the tests done to eliminate these. A neurological cause is not likely.
Hope this helps. Please let me know if there is any thing else and do keep me posted. Take care!

[charris628]

Thank you, you comment has given me some hope that not everything has been eliminated yet. I have had 3 sleep studies done in 2 years, they are not fun. All they have shown is that I am very sleep all of the time. Each test I have fallen asleep within 2 minutes of lying down. I slept all through the night and entered all stages of sleep. The following day they did sleep latency tests which was a series of 20 minute naps. Each time I fell asleep withing the first 5 minutes of every nap and stayed asleep until they woke me. I did not enter REM sleep during the naps. Due to the lack of REM sleep during the naps and a blood test narcolepsy has been ruled out. The cause of my sleepiness is still undetermined. I stick to a sleep schedule of going to be between 10:00 and 10:30 every night and wake up between 5:00 and 5:30 every morning even on the weekends. The only time this pattern is broken is when I have a migraine to the point I can't keep my eyes open which results in me falling asleep. I get one of those migraines about 2-3 times in a 7 day week. I am frequently checked for anemia because my older sister is extremely anemic. So far my Iron has been normal. I have not been tested for and of the other possible causes listed. I will ask about ruling them out.
As for the allergies my PCP always tells me to just take cleritin 24 allergy relief and that is it, which I do. I still steadily have a post nasal drip and my ears are always clogged and ringing (mainly in my left ear) which I feel is causing some hearing loss.

As for my pupils my right eye seems to measure 1 size larger than the left OD size 5, OS size 4. It comes and goes throughout the day. Nothing has been found to be the cause of it just yet.

I will keep out up dated an any diagnosis.

thank you again for taking the time to respond!

charris628