I am one of the first people on the planet to have a shunt placed, Jan'70. My understanding first of all there are only to ways to find out if a vp shunt is malfunctioning, spinal tap and/or having an opthamologist look at the ventricles in the back of your eyes to see if they are swollen. I have never had abdominal discomfort. I am not a doctor, however I would think there may be scar tissue around the incision or where the tube was placed. I have had a headache five times in my life, brain surgery all five times, the last being 2006, I can tell you that one of the most common ways to know if the shunt is functioning properly is vertigo, dizziness no matter what position your body is in. I am a guinea pig, doctors have to be more reactive than proactive, I was recently diagnosed with epilepsy, when I asked my neurologist if the shunt had anything to do with it, his response was it is possible, you have a foreign body in your head, however without more knowledge of the long term effects of the shunt there is no way of knowing for sure. I AM THE LONG TERM EFFECT, I and the doctors will learn day by day, I try to keep my doctors up to date with any changes in my condition.
Quote:
Originally Posted by glittergirl
Hello everyone 
I am new on here and sooooooooo Happy to of found this site. I have had a vpshunt put in on Aug of 2008. it has been about 6 months since I have had this shunt and dont get me wrong , my pressure problem is all gone BUT, I have had soooo many problems since surgery. It took me a long time to recover for I had sooo much pressure in my head that it was the most my Brain Surgen has EVER seen! NO wonder why I was REALLY sick for 4 years- I lost a little bit of my vision ( well its not the same) because of all the pressure on my optic nerve. It's only been 6 months almost 7 and I feel that I am FINALLY getting back to normal, EXCEPT of all the HORRIBLE odd pains I have been having since surgery. It started about 2 months after surgery...I started to get this HORRIBLE MOST HORRIBLE abdominal pain- I have been threw EVERY test MRI/Cat Scan- ETC. and NO ONE found any problem with me or my shunt. So ok...what do I do? It got sooo bad at times I could'nt even walk-everyone said it was NOT from my shunt blah blah blah...I found this site yesterday and read atleast 5 stories of people that has had the SAME abdominal pain and EVERYTHING just like me....OMG Thankyou I'm not crazy-LOL.
So time has gone by and I have had that belly pain happen atleast 6 different times to me and the longest that it lasted was from the 28th of December all the way to the 1st of February (this year) yeah, HORRIBLE  then for 4 days I was great then out of the clear blue I felt like I was hit by a bus, and got this most HORRIBLE headache that I have EVER had- and believe me I have had CONSTANT headaches REALLY bad headaches for over 4 years straight! This one was almost the worst of them all! I ended up with some neck pain and a temp of 101. I went into the hospital about 3 days later-(cause you know how you hope it will just go away) well it didnt, it actually got worse I went back into the hospital cause the first time they just thought it was a bad sinus problem- (yeah, I DONT have or EVER had sinus problems)but whatever...and the second time they thought -well didnt know what to think-they called my brain surgen and the next day I was to go get a shunt tap- so I did . It was crystal clear!!! but, I got a phonecall at 8am the next morning saying that my shunt is infected and I needed to go in and talk with the Dr. > OMG I cried for 2 days for I am STILL recovering how can this be? My hair is just starting to grow out etc I thought I was out of the "infection period". ??? Anyways, I was in the hospital for 4 days they did test after test took all kinds of blood /catscan/MRI/ and so on....Here, NOTHING grew in my blood cultures or anything I stopped having a temp and just started to feel great..They said that my spinal fluid must have just had some bacteria on it from the skin or something? And I still had a bit of the neck pain with the headache but NOTHING like I had felt that week. I REALLY felt wonderful! So I got sent home on Valentines Day morning- I actually got cleaned up and went out for the whole day I felt so good! I even got engaged that night but anyways, a whole week went by and all was the best I have EVER felt since ,well, since I'd say I felt in 5 years...Then the beginning of this week I woke up and was like oh no...and the hardcore headache was back with the temp and neck pain! so I went into the hospital again the next day...Of course when it came to my temp it was normal(Thankgod) they took my blood and that was it! they said my blood was fine- my white blood cells a little up (just like before) nothing changed. so NO signs of infection or anything so they sent me home. It has been going on 5 maybe 6 days now and the headache are still here with body aches (Flu feeling) with no temp. I go into my Brain surgens office this Thursday-I am sure he's going to want to do another brain tap Ok...so, I dont understand? I thought I was going to feel better and FINALLY back to normal and live a great healthy life??? Why have I been having sooo many problems since this shunt has been put in me? This is NO WAY to live a life!!! I am sooo mad and sooooo frusterated that i dont know what to do! I am sooo scared to have to go threw "another" surgery and all that. I have read that ALOT of you have had more than one surgery- Why? wasnt this sapossed to make us all better? That is what I was told and there would be NO LIMITATIONS! Has ANY body else out there still having headaches? Is there anyone out there with a good story after getting your shunt? PLEASE write to me for I am soooo worried that my life will be like this forever- Will it? or is it just because my shunt is sooo new??? I cant take it and its REALLY taking a tool on my fiancee and the people around me but especially me...I am getting REALLY depressed- I am only 36 years old and am planning a wedding and a family someday soon but how can you plan anything when you never know how you'll be feeling? aHHH I REALLY NEED PRAYERS! ALL I WANT IS TO FEEL BETTER for longer than a couple of days...PLEASE write and tell me your stories even if they ar bad ones. I am glad to of found people who are going threw what I am and feel what I feel Please send me your stories-I Thankyou* |