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Old 09-19-2009, 03:00 AM
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stevenje stevenje is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Palo Alto, California
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15 yr Member
stevenje stevenje is offline
New Member
stevenje's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Palo Alto, California
Posts: 4
15 yr Member
Angry VP Shunt Problem

Quote:
Originally Posted by Felicia1981 View Post
I had a VP shunt placed back in October of 2008, I have since the surgery had short term memory loss, now out of the blue the actual shunt itself is hurting.... it starts out as a "throbbing" then remains... I have experienced the "throbbing" before an thought nothing of it... but earlier yesterday morning I nearly fell from being dizzy an light headed... like I had gotten up to fast, but that was not the case... this was differant. Also, its like the pain is ONLY where the actual shunt itself is, its not a severe pain more annoying than anything...
>
> I went to the ER last night mainly because I was scared... this is all new to me... Anyway, to make a long story short the dr was very rude an walked out of the room as I was in mid sentence an then went an hid in a little room down the hall from my room... he ordered a CT Scan but like my primary dr told me, results are only as good as the person trying to read them.... so I am goin to go an get a copy of CT Scan that was done last night an go see a neurologist. ... The second time the dr (what a joke!) came in my room was to give me a Rx for Fioricet and papers on "What is a headache" I was beyond mad! It was because of
> a headache they even did my first CT Scan that showed I have hydrocephalus to begin with....
>
> Either way, the shunt still hurts... my short term memory still sucks, still get light headed for time to time an just want to know if anyone else has had this an if so, how was it treated?
>
> I just know this isn't normal I guess I feel that I have had the shunt long enough to know now the differance between what is an is not normal for me....
Hello, I'm sorry to hear of your pain. I've had hydrocephalus since childbirth but wasn't diagnosed with it until I had a massive seizure in the 7th grade, or 13. Since then I've had numerous revisions and now take the most powerful narcotic pain medicine available. Like you I've gone to the ER, specifically 3 nights ago because my sustained release morphine and dilaudid were not working and haven't been for some time now. Most of the time in the ER I get very sympathetic, caring doctors who know me and will give me several injections of IV dilaudid which seems to work but on some other nights I've gotten this old idiot of a doctor who thinks I'm there to get a fix or worse thinks I've ran out of my meds and came running for a quick fix. The best thing I can recommend is to see a pain specialist so he, or she can prescribe Morphine, Dilaudid, or if you can afford it and have great insurance, the Fentanyl patch which is great and in my opinion the best. Good Luck to you and God Bless
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