My 13 year old son

[scintilla]

I am really concerned about my son and found this forum a while back. I would dearly love to have any feedback regarding my son's situation.

About 4 or 5 months ago, my son was experiencing back pain and it did not go away so I took him to the doctor. He had an x-ray and the doctor told us that my son had SBO. He referred us to an orthopedic surgeon for evaluation. We took him there and we were told that the pain was not from the SBO, and that it was most likely a strained muscle-take motrin and have physical therapy. He never did get physical therapy but soon the pain went away so that was that.

Now my son has pain again in his back. He said it was like before. Now he did go bowling last weekend and so it is possible that he strained his back again. He said the pain is like a stabbing pain in the lower left side when he moves. Now it hurts when he walks. No pain when he is still. He does not have any numbness, tingling, urinary symptoms and his bowel movements are normal.

I guess I am just scared that this is the beginning of a tethered cord. I wondered if this sounded familiar or if I am just being a worry wart. If he does not get better in the next couple of days, I do plan on taking him back to the same doctor for a follow up.

Thanks for "listening"!

[Dodger67]

Hi Scintilla
Welcome! :happy065:

The only way an unequivocal diagnosis of SBO can be made is with an MRI. Without it everyone is just guessing. Did the doctor who first said it is SBO say where the lesion is?
Does he have any external indicator of possible SBO such as a mole, dimple, birthmark, etc. on his spine?

[Nettie]

Hi Scintilla!

I don't have much advise, sorry, I just wanted to say welcome! And I do hope you can sort this out soon. It is always worrying when a child of that age complains about pain, especially backpain. It isn't normal, and something is up. I can't tell you if it's just another strained muscle, but I'm wondering what is the chance? And especially with having SBO, I'd be extremely worried if it were my child. I do hope the orthopead will be able to help you and provide you with some answers. Keep us posted?

[scintilla]

Thanks for the responses. I know that no one can give me a diagnosis - I really was just wondering if that sounded like the beginning of the symptoms or not.

He does not have any outward signs on his back, no dimple, no hairy patch or lump. The doctor described the SBO as a "gap" in his spine. Those were the exact words. When I pressed for a name for this, that is when he said Spina Bifida Occulta. He went on to say that 5-10% of people have this and that they don't have problems. The ortho doctor said she saw the X-ray and she wasn't concerned. Only later through research did I realize that I should have asked how many vertebrae were affected, etc.

I really just am looking for feedback on whether pain like this would come and go so spread out in time if it were his SBO starting to cause problems. I will probably end up taking him back to the doctor. Does anyone have any advice on what questions to ask or what tests to press for?

[kidsrustx]

I would definitely press for an MRI. You can't know if he has tethered cord without it. My son's SBO wasn't diagnosed until he was 12 (he's 14 now). His was not visible on xray, only through MRI.

[Lifeisgood]

Hi Scintilla,
I am glad that you have found us! Welcome!
I agree with the people who have recommended an MRI. It is not possible to tell if he has a tethered cord without it. Orthopedists do not typically have too much experience with SB, so it is good to get it properly assessed, and then if there is something suspicious on the scan (such as a tethered cord) you can ask to be referred to a neurosurgeon for follow up. It is good to hear that he does not have any numbness, tingling, bowel or bladder issues. That is a good sign. However, if the pain does not go away or comes back, the cause of that should be thoroughly worked up with a MRI. My mantra these days seems to be 'when in doubt, check it out!' You sleep better that way. ;)
I hope that he is feeling better soon and that you get some of the answers you are looking for! And I do not think you are being a worry-wart. You obviously want the best for your son!
Take care of yourself!

[LisaJoy]

Hi, Scintilla -- welcome. Anyone with sbo and ANY kind of symptoms needs an MRI. It would probably be easier just to get a referral to a pediatric neurosurgeon; they are more likely to order the MRI than an orthopedist. The orthopedist has already proven that s/he doesn't know anything about sb.

[scintilla]

Thanks for all the welcomes, that is so nice!

I made an appointment with the orthopedic surgeon that we previously went to-for next Tuesday.

I am going to push for an MRI-I hope it won't be too hard to get one set up. I just want to know what we are dealing with so we can move forward. If it is the worst case scenario, I just want to be prepared and ready to help my son through all this. If it is good news, I want to know that too.

Thanks again for all the support. It means more than you can know!

[Nettie]

That's good that you're pressing for answers, Scintilla! Let us know what the ortho says?

I hope you can get that MRI asap! My daughter's ortho referred us for her MRI. She didn't have backpain. She had legpain and problems, and urinary and bowel problems. Unfortunately the MRI left us none the wiser, it was "clean". We're taking her to a neurologyst next week Thursday.

[scintilla]

Hello everyone
I just wanted to give a quick update on my son.

I took him to the orthopedist we took him to before (his GP referred us). She told me that there was no way that his SBO was causing his pain.

The first time I took him there, we had JUST heard about this SBO-I had no clue what an intelligent question would be so I didn't have very many. If I hadn't asked his GP if there was a name for his condition (he kept referring it to a gap in his spine, which scared the crud out of me) I wouldn't have even got SBO out of him.

This time, I asked her what the Xray showed-how many vertebrae were affected, etc. She said that it was one vertebra and that it was a small gap, and that it wouldn't affect his spinal cord at all. He shouldn't have any problems from it at all and that he has no restrictions whatsoever based on that (he wants to play football and I was concerned)

His pain has since went away. She said he just needs to do core strengthening exercises.

I hope she is right. At this point I am just going to keep myself informed. I also had a long talk with him and told him that he needs to communicate with me about any symptoms, no matter how weird or unexplained so that we could deal with it.

Anyways, thanks everyone for your help and support!

[Dodger67]

But tethered cord has not been ruled out! The ortho seems to be too dismissive - has probably never seen a case of TC before. You really must insist on seeing a neurosurgeon.