Quote:
Originally Posted by Jaime_S
Hi, I was just wondering what the main symptoms of hydrocephalus were for someone who might be developing it later in life? It's a bit confusing trying to find information, when most people developed hydro from birth, or at a young age. I know that many of you here have lived with it all your life, and I'm sure that must be difficult.
Anyway...I had surgery for an Arachnoid Cyst over 10 years ago, (age 30) I had cyst fenestration and not a shunt. I was told the the CSF flow was blocked by the cyst, but when it was removed, they said it was normal again. I had an MRI 2 years ago, and they say the CSF flow was normal then, and the cyst hadn't regrown. But over the last few months, I've felt increased pressure in the back of my head (where the cyst had been), and increased dizziness and some pain. I was diagnosed with Occipital Neuralgia in late '06, and now the pain is mostly controlled by nerve blocks, but the pressure feeling and the constant dizziness has got worse recently. My Neurologist doesn't think it's in the head this time, so he's sending me for balance tests, because he thinks it is inner ear problems now. I asked for an MRI, but he wasn't going to do one until after I've had these balance tests.
So, can CSF flows/build-up show on an MRI? Or are there other tests for that? I hope it's something simple like inner-ear problems, but I don't have all the symptoms for that, just the pressure and dizziness...
~Jaime~ |
I was not diagnosed with hydrocephalus until age 41. I found out when I was driving a company car down a secondary highway and the road started to spin. I was covering a school board meeting out of town as a reporter. I nursed the car to the side of the road and waited. A few minutes later, a trustee from the same meeting came and took me to hospital. I was flown out by air ambulance to Toronto where hydrocephalus was discovered. The symptoms at the time, aside from the vertigo and dizziness, were headaches, balance problems and a general feeling of mailaise. I balked at having a shunt put in the first time, but when I returned from Toronto, I only had to go back a month later. At that time, the situation was so bad, that I passed out at the Lockwood Clinic. I was rushed to Toronto St. Michael's for emergency surgery and I'm still alive to tell about it some 11 years later. The dizziness and vertigo were the first symptoms for me, followed by extreme headaches and mild bladder problems. Hope this helps. Jeff, Kirkland Lake, Ont. Canada