Quote:
Originally Posted by paul1983
Hi All, I'm new to the forum, I was diagnosed with Hydrocephalus at the age of ten days old and was operated to have a VP shunt in, still to this day I am with the same shunt (32 years) and have previously had bad headaches, I was discharged in 2010 and when asked if the shunt could be removed we were told that it would be too risky because I didn't have the change at ages 7/14/21.
Over the past Few years (well since I was 3 years old) I had a lazy eye which carried onto poor vision then slowly deteriorated, after number and number of tests the eye hospital said that it must be down to the hydrocephalus due to the pressure on the eyes.......... I am now registered partially sighted and my other eye is now deteriorating because of this.
Do any of you as old as me or older still have your 1st shunt still placed?
If so, have you asked why a new one has not been inserted?
Have you had any loss of vision?
I would really appreciate anyone's feedback on this. TIA
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Hey Paul
My first lasted 13yr and then fractured, they didn't remove the old one. Just inserted a whole new shunt. The valve died on the new one within 6mths. Then they just replaced the valve. It was explained to me that after 10 yrs the original one would have had structures (blood vessels etc) adhere to it so removing it after that length of time could have caused major bleeding. So they cut it off level with the outside of my skull and left the brain catheter in place. The distal end that fractured was also left and is now floating in my belly somewhere. Occasionally I feel something odd, painful, but the dr's are less than reluctant to go looking for it.
I have some bloody awful pain behind my eyes since my last revision. It was my vision that finally made the medicos investigate in the first place. I was driving down the road and the lights went out, which was bloody scary to say the least. I've seen an ophthalmologist about it and he tells me it could be a result of scar tissue after the 5 surgeries Ive had. But to remove the old shunt and the scar tissue is going to need further surgery meaning further scar tissue. So for me its a case of putting up with what I know or having further surgery resulting in ?????
So although mine wasn't as old as yours, they still wouldn't remove it.
Merl1n