[ideebaby]

Hi everyone... I am a 50 year old woman that was just diagnosed with NPH and had a VP shunt put in four weeks ago. About a year ago I started having alot of weakness and rigidness in my legs and also having trouble with incontinence. The doctors put the leg weakness on the back burner to treat the incontinence... I was diagnosed with a bladdar disorder and had several treatments... which didn't help the incontinence at all. In the mean time... I kept getting weaker and weaker. I had always been an active person, my husband and were walking three miles a day when I first got sick and within six months my legs were stiff and rigid and I was walking with a cane and walker. I HAD to know what was wrong... my family doctor sent me to a neurologist in Nashville TN... and all I can say is "Let the tests begin". After about two months I was told I had NPH. I was referred to a neuro surgeon who did an LP puncture and within 24 hours I was back to my old self!! Walking and climbing stairs... i was so happy. I went back to the doctor two weeks later, back to my cane but ready for the VP shunt that i thought would "fix" my life. The surgery went fine... I had alot of vommiting after but I got to come home the next day. I had a headache that didn't want to go away. I stayed sick all the time and vommited daily. This went on for two weeks and i went to have my staples out and I expressed my concern and my doctor told me i needed to be patient. Five days later I was dehydrated and admitted into the hospital. The next day I had my first adjustment on my shunt. I have an adjustable shunt that has three settings, .5, 1.0 and 1.5. Apparently I was overdrained and my shunt was set at .5 when they checked it. They moved it up to 1.5 and sent me home from the doctor. I felt good for about two days. My husband and I even walked for 45 minutes (which is a miracle) on the third day I was back to pre surgery state... not walking, not able to stand from a sitting position without help... forgetting everything and yes incontinent but the most frightening thing was my first attempt at driving... I got lost in my own neighborhood and had a panic attack. I went back to the doctor four days ago and had another CT scan.. my ventricles were full again! Oh my... will I ever be normal again? They adjusted me back down to 1.0 and today for the first time since the surgery I feel pretty good. I am cautiously optomistic.. but hopeful that I am finally in the right place. I have a headache... although mild, and what feels like a stiff neck. Its tolerable, but I am afraid i may be slightly overdrained again. My surgeon says that if this last adjustment doesn't work we will have to put in a different shunt. The thought of that scares me, I am praying every day that my body will adjust to this setting and i can get on with my life! I want to get back to work and move past this.

I have been reading alot of posts on here and it's comforting to know that I am not alone. Every time I have had a symptom i was not sure of i have found the answer or at least realized that i am not alone. Thanks to everyone for your posts... even if not to me, they help!

[lcms0516]

Congrats, That you finally got a shunt!!