I have had my second opinion & am now getting my strata adjustable valve removed due to the huge amount of problems with it re adjusting itself so when you are told that they cannot do it do not believe it. It seems that the manufacture of this shunt & the neuro people do not want to admit there is a problem probably due to the liability they may end up with.All i can suggest is that anyone suspecting there is a problem, get an independant second opinion as you as the person with this unit will well know when things are not right.I am going to have an Integra OSV11 shunt fitted if any one has any experiences with these i would love to hear from you.

I am new to this site and just wanted to say that my daughter had a programmable medtronic valve for 2 yrs. From day one she had problems with it. On her foirst post-op visit the valve had reset itself. The surgeon did not believe that could happen.He thought he just wrote it down wrong. Several more times, shunt was found to be at wrong setting. He made excuses each time. Finally, when the shunt could no longer be set on anything but the highest or lowest setting, he replaced it with a fixed delta valve. My daughter endured 2 yrs of headaches, dizziness etc..because of this. We did contact medtronic about the problem. They said they were looking into it, but knew of no other problems. Really?

Hi Katien 7, Like you we are told that these shunts cannot adjust themselves, for the 3.5 years I had my valve in I had nothing but trouble with it re adjusting. I wonder how many of these valves are out there & how many cause problems.I am not too computer literate & wonder how you get to contact other people out there who have had trouble someone suggested that I start a Blog, but I do not know how to do this if you or anyone can give me advice on this I would love to get one going I do not use facebook or any such sites.If anyone out there can help please let us know there was a site a while a go that i looked at that also had people saying they had problems.Since I had my shunt replaced 3 moths a go with an Integra osv shunt I have been 100% with no problems at all.All the people involved in fitting these units should be made to listen.Good luck

I totally get you guys.
Back in November 2009, i had a medtronic strata put in after my fixed valve decided to over drain too much too often.

From the very night i had it placed it gave me troubles. There is 5 options/pressures on it right? They started off in the middle, and went up in pressure depending on how i felt. When they all failed, the pressure went on the lower pressure settings, not a single one worked but they said it took getting used to.
Not sure what pressure they set it to in the end but they told me to come back if things hadnt improved in a week. I gave it 3 days, was in agony.
Got the pressure changed and when they checked it reset itself but as mentioned above, they assumed they wrote the wrong pressure down and that it DID NOT reset itself. They also assumed this before when i first had it put in. It was seriously changed about 6 times in the space of 2 weeks, each time with different pressures as to what they set it to. About 2 weeks after the shunt got put in, i had a red mark around my tubing in my neck and a little bit of a temp, but blood tests ruled out infection.

I gave up in the end and stopped going back and forth as it was quite a journey, i suffered the headaches but they got worse and worse over a week.
Until I passed out several times in the night, got taken to my local then referred to my specialist hospital where they done more blood tests and my infection levels were horrendously high, by then this infection had spread to my heart through my VA shunt and throughout my whole body. Although having that infection and the experience of it was one of the worst experiences of my life (and over my silings birthdays, christmas and newyear), i am extremely grateful that it happened, as otherwise ild still be stuck with that s****y medtronic programmable- as doctors really didnt wanna believe my suspicions of a faulty valve.

As with all infections, my shunt was revised and a fixed pressure was put back in, along with a subtemporal decompression. Havent had any troubles since! One year on

My husband got his shunt in April and is having problems with it overdraining.. but it seems that its not changing in setting or so the thing says.. I have seen the thing when the dr puts it on there.. anyone have this particular issue?

Hi, i am new to this forum, but i think it is a nice place to talk with others having the same problem as me. I am 36 Years old, and have been diagnosed with idiopathic intracranial hypertension.
Therefore when doctors after 4 years found out that my CSF pressure where to high, they inserted a strata shunt. One shunt alone was not a good solution for me, and they inserted one more. I have now got 2 shunts, serial connected to each other.

I have also had the same problem as many other in this forum. The shunts are self-adjusting and like others in here, the doctors say that "it is not possible". My shunts has changed it`s values about 8 or 9 times.
Because of the "not possible" value changes i bought a tesla meter on e-bay. I have now been checking around the whole house, and found out that the power transformer connected to my desktop lamp, has been one of the issues. After I removed it, the problems with self-adjusting shunts have been a lot better. Still the shunts dos not work properly, and therefore I am thinking about the Integra OSV 11 shunt. I would like to ask my surgeon about this shunt, and what he thinks. Also I would like to hear as much as possible from others in here, which has replaced the strata shunts with Integra OSV11.

The shunts are now working better, but they are draining either too much or too little, and I have also noticed that physical activities affect my headache, as big laughter, coughing and sneezing.

Hope to hear from you!

Best regards from Norway

4-12-2013 Hi Ian, How are you doing now with the Integra OSV11? I know time has passed but this would be helpful to me as I have a Medtronic Strata valve for NPH but have had problems as well. Long story!!!!

Hi Betty The new osv11 was brilliant for approx 11 months but they only changed the valve itself on initial revision, unfortunately the valve stopped working again so I went in to the same hospital again.I was put under so they could check it all upon waking up I found they had removed the valve & tubing to my abdomen & replaced it all that was nearly 2 years ago & I havent looked back apart from the short term memory problems I was left with after my Medtronic pile of crap caused me. As i have said b4 it was life changing if not life saving to have the Osv11 fitted as it is if only the N.S didnt think they were God & listened to the patient we would all get a better life.You have to go outside your area to get an independent opinion but it is well worth it if I had my way they should BAN Medtronic Stata Valves they are 2 troublesome.Keep in contact if I can help let me know Ian

4-18-2013 Ian, Thanks. My brother in Little Rock Ark will be getting his Medtronic Strata valve replaced with an Integra for NPH on 4-22-2013. The Medtronic people really give people the run around to say the least. My sister in LR Ark has an Integra as well. I'm sending this link to both my brother and sister for their info. Again, thanks for getting back to me. You might be interested in this link: This group would not allow my to give you the link. Sorry.

I'm a new member of this forum. I was diagnosed with NPH in 2008, and had a Medtronics Strata valve with anti-siphon device installed in Jan. 2009 as part of a vp shunt system. It worked well for about 2 years, reset itself once after that, and started siphoning the next year. I had a Miethke Shunt Assistant added on to the system last summer. The darn thing has started siphoning again! My NSG has reset it to a lower flow, but it's not helping. I think I'm going to try to schedule replacement with a different type of valve. Seems like Medtronics needs to do a better job of quality control. It's good to know I'm not alone in this, but it would be better to do away with the headaches and nausea.