Quote:
Originally Posted by darren2175
Hi
My first post here on the site.
Had my last shunt inserted 7 years ago and have had daily severe abdominal pain everyday since then. Have had lots of scans and x-ray's all of which said everything was okay. Been to a pain clinic for 2 years and tried everything going. Even had my nerves cauterized (not sure if this is the right description of what the procedure was but it was something like this.
My neuro left me with the decision as to whether or not I want more surgery to try and alleviate the problem but said that there was a high chance I could be left in more pain. The last operation I had they made mistake and instead of removing some shunt tubing they actually extended it and it now runs down one side of my body and across my stomach to the other side. I have multiple pain points across my abdomen.
My reason for posting today is that I'm looking for any advice from anyone that may have/had similar issues. I'm thinking I have reached a point where I'm going to opt for surgery again in the hope of alleviating these issues.
I can't sleep well, can't eat a lot and generally can't do much without the pain interrupting my life! I asked for a VA shunt (the same as I had for 26 years with no issues) and the neuro said he doesn't like doing them in adults. Not sure if this is something I can insist or not?
Thanks for reading my long post.
Darren
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Hi
I had my vp shunt installed in October 2012 and from the time I woke up I had abdominal pain, which was sharp stabbing type pain and the surgeon sent me home and to the urologist as the pain was like my bladder was being stabbed and of course he said "did you have the pain last week before the surgery?" and I of course said no and he told me "why would it be anything other than the shunt" and I also have had many scans, shunt x-ray studies and every time I had an x-ray the tubing end was at the position of my pain. I was told many times that the tubing was like spaghetti and could not cause pain. In October of 2013 my shunt was revised and the tubing shortened to try to help and for a few months the pain went away but now it is back and worse than ever. It is now causing pain in my right diaphragm and it hurts to even breathe. I was sent this time to a GI doctor and he said the same thing that it was the shunt.
I also have had three times between the first vp shunt surgery and now when my shunt showed signs of failure/plugging, severe headaches, vision problems, ears ringing/thrumming, severe memory problems, writing letters out of order in words, finding myself waking up doing crazy things like filling a basket with ice, hurting to move my head even slightly like brushing my teeth, etc. My neurosurgeon seems to not want to accept that the shunt is causing this problem. I told him I do not have x-ray vision yet can pinpoint the tubing end every time and this has been at least six to eight x-ray scans and cats scans. The doctor has never even pressed on my stomach or belly, EVER, which to me just seems crazy and more for deniability than doing a good exam. Call me crazy but I think if a patient comes in repeatedly for stabbing pain you would press and see if the pain corresponded to the tubing in the x-rays and cat scans but that is just me. I just want relief from the pain. I am hoping you have had a resolution to your pain. I am thinking some sort of allergy to the tubing material or auto-immune response yet that is just me guessing and hoping to find a reason and way to stop the pain and failures after everything I have tried and researched. I cannot sleep and it feels like a piece of broken glass inside and every time I move or breathe it feels like that is stabbing and poking inside. I feel for everyone having the same type of issues. I have given this more than enough time and hope someone has some advice or direction.