Cheeti

Dear Shirl
thanks a lot for replying and for your concern about my friend. We tried our best in his case but all in vain. We live in Pakistan.He went to USA,UK and Canada and visited best doctors there but they were blind in his case.this is his medical history. I am just posting all this with a hope that may be any one of you can help us.

Medical History:
He is a 31-year-old male and for the past 3 years have been experiencing severe attacks of paraplegia which have now rendered him useless from the waist down.

He has a history of high blood pressure and have been diagnosed as being hypertensive; he is also a chain smoker. he had consulted many doctors and even travelled to the UK in August 2000 for the treatment of his blood pressure. his health problems have started ever since he underwent an operation in which a small piece of his intestine was removed, in May 1999.

In October 1999 he suffered an attack of paralysis. However recovery was within 48 hours leaving only a slight weakness in his left leg.

In February 2000 an MRI of his Spinal cord,Thoracic cervical region was taken which showed no abnormalities.

He then proceeded to the UK where he was treated for high blood pressure and was diagnosed as hypertensive.

In January he again experienced another attack of paralysis in which I experienced extreme difficulty in walking. This situation worsened he is at the moment suffering from numbness, spasticity from the leg downwards and occasional tremors and jerks in his legs. He is unable to walk properly and is experiencing fatigue as well. He is also experiencing urinary retention, difficulty in hand co-ordination and constant constipation.
He was barely able to see and had been diagnosed as having EALS as well, for which he had had laser treatment in his right eye.

He has undergone diagnostic tests of the spinal cord MRI of both Brain and Spinal cord, CSF test all of which have not produced any abnormal results.
He has been administered both oral and intravenous steroids and had been suggested in Pakistan to take Beta Interferon’s (Avonex).

He then proceeded to Canada in July 2001 seeing Dr Paul O’Connor in Toronto hospital. He underwent numerous tests spinal fluid examinations, which showed banding as negative, white blood cell counts, were 30 80% lymphocytes and 0.53 proteins. Blood tests of HTLV-1 and 2 antibodies, B12, folate and TSH were all normal. He also had a cerebral angiogram done as the Dr suspected vasculitis (as he was also suffering from haemorrhages in the eye) however the angiogram returned as normal. Dr Paul O’Connor diagnosed him with Transverse myelitis as there were no signs of any other disease and he gave a symptom-based diagnosis. he then proceeded to the U.S.A (John Hopkins) were he had further neurological follow-ups. He had a brain MRI that showed no change as to his previous MRI of the brain some cystic lesions were found in the corpus callosum. The MRI of the Thoracic spin was also done where the Dr did suspect that there was some swelling in that region. However when a MRI with contrast was done this was ruled out. He was then recommended that he must further investigate his health problem and was told to have serum blood tests: c-ANCA, p-ANCA, ANA, SS-A, SS-B c-reactive protein and B12 test; CSF tests which again looked at cell counts, viral cultures, Ace level, cytology and flow cytometry.

Upon reaching Pakistan his health at first deteriorated. He was no longer able to walk the short distances he was doing so before. he then was unable to move head down. He then gradually improved to such an extent that his inability to move head down went away but he was no longer able to put any weight on his feet. At the moment he is unable to move his feet he can only drag them. He moves with crutches but only to a very limited distance and gets tired very quickly. He has also had a vitrectomy done of his left eye in Pakistan. He was unable to investigate all that was asked from him in the USA as the required tests were not available In Pakistan. The tests that were conducted in Pakistan were CSf tests which showed no abnormal result and a tuberculosis test which returned positive in the blood however when investigated MTB DNA by PCR the result was that NO MTB DNA was detected.


he had a vitrectomy done of his left eye in Pakistan. Recently he has been operated by Dr. Latif for the removal of cataract and silicon oil from his left eye.

He had gone through the MRI scans of Lumbar, Cervical and Thoracic spine with and with out contrast to find any possibility of arterio-venous malformations (AVM). But all of my MRI’s have shown unremarkable results.

His final diagnosis was not final so he went to USA in April 2003 .Doctors could not find anything there also though he had to go for spinal cord Angiogram and many other blood tests. His all blood test were negative .CSF for elogobanding was again negative. Some doctors were suspecting Devic Syndrome so they did an experimental therapy of plasma transplantation.Currently he is taking immuno suppressions as a doctor here said that it COULD be behcets.But he (my friend)still thinks that it is some form of cord compression that is not being detected in MRI's so .......................................

Totally lost............ hope something good can come up for my friend.
Regards
Batool.