Hi Kae Lee, I had a colloid cyst removed in May of '06. I have had headaches for the last 20 years of my life but every Dr had their own take on them and I went through more diagnosis and treatments than I knew even existed and was even tossed out of one Dr office as a "drug seeker" because nothing seemed to work for them. In April of 06 I lost the use of my right arm, my thinking and speaking became muddled and unintelligible to me and everyone else, I was confused and my Dr sent me to the ER thinking "stroke". CT scan showed the cyst as well as the ventricles swelled and blocked off from circulating the csf, thus, hydrocephalus. We did an emergency brain surgery, removed the cyst through a small incision in the right front forehead and a burr hole through the upper right top of the head. The did an external drain for a couple of days, decided I did not need a shunt and released me. Exactly 30 days later, the same symptoms came back. In the ER again, CT scan showed ventricles swollen with csf all over again and blocked off with the scar tissue from the cyst being up there all those years and from the surgical scar tissue building. They put the shunt in that time. I have had it since. And hated it since. Not that I had a choice - they could have scraped off all of the scar tissue , along with the chance of taking some of the good gray matter, and not placed the shunt at all but there was no guarantee the scar tissue not grow back and with a vengeance and we would be back at square one again. And no guarantee that I would not lose some of my normal functions with some of the good gray matter going with it. The shunt is a horrible thing to live with. When the barometric pressure changes I suffer horribly. When a storm is about 24 hours off I can tell it is coming in as I get a headache from hell, I cant sleep it is so bad, I sometimes throw up with the pain, I now have seizures since the placement of the shunt, my cognitive functions are not what they once were. When I am talking I can't find the right words, I use words that are not the correct ones, or are not the word at all that I want or that sound like the word but are not even close to what word I need, I can't find the word at all sometimes, I dont spell like I used to (thank God for spell check!), I can't read like I used to, what used to take me two days to read now takes me months and half the time I can't remember what I have read and have to start over until it is so frustrating I give up on it and reading was my favorite past time pre-shunt, I foget where I put things so now have to put everything in a specific place each time it is used, can't cook as I can't remember where I am if using a recipe, may leave something on the stove or in the oven and walk away and start the house on fire, have to have the computer set on an alarm set to take medications, for appointments, can't drive now as I get lost in the town I grew up in, can't remember where I am going by the time I am in the car, don't shop since I can't remember what I need. I can['t even remember my pets names half of the time. It is horrible. I am 44 years old.
If you can live without the shunt(s) then I say do it as long as you can put it off! I have also heard that you cannot fly either as the barometric pressure is hell on the landings and/or take offs with some people, going on vacations is hard due to altitude and weather changes. There is something that is being done now that is cutting a hole in the floor of the ventricle so that they can drain that way. If this is an option for you then you should discuss it with your neuro or one that offers this since it is less invasive and does not need the shunt to work. I know also that the tubing of these shunts is very long, it goes into your body cavity by a foot and tangles all in your intestines. My gastro thought this was rather barbaric since it gets all tangled up in there as your intestines have to flip and flop to do their magic and this tubing tugs and pulls at your intestines and causes a lot of pain and problems that you have to take medications for also. I know if I ever have the chance I will have it removed and do the ventricle slit instead to see if I can't get rid of a gazillion problems that having the shunt has brought on. I am on social security disability now due to it. So, talk to your neuro about other options, research all other options anywhere you can before going down this awful path! Good luck to you with it. I wish I had known more when it happened to me - I had never heard of this when it hit me.