Can you feel a CSF leak? Do imaging studies always detect a leak?
 

Hello, nice to meet you all.

I wanted to know if anyone could tell me if a literal feeling of liquid moving around inside of your bread is characteristic of a CSF leak.

I started having incessant, excruciating headaches about eight years ago, and as time went by, I also developed other symptoms such as trouble balancing, memory loss, difficulty concentrating, word recollection issues, tinnitus, and this really unsettling sensation of dampness and liquid moving around inside of my brain.

I have already had an MRI and a CT scan of my brain. I also went to an ENT and had vestibular and hearing testing done to rule out an inner ear problem.

Could the feeling like liquid is moving around inside of my brain be due to a CSF issue? One bizarre thing that happens is sometimes I'll go days or weeks where I walk around in a major dreamlike haze where I barely feel like I know what is going on around me. When this happens, it feels like there's liquid in my brain that I need to blow out through my nose to get it out. Once I managed to do so, I begin feeling more clear-headed instantaneously. I realize that sounds really weird, I'm sorry. I am having a hard time explaining it.

Does the fact that I have had both a clear brain MRI and clear brain CT mean that a CSF leak is not a possibility? Is a CSF leak usually detected during one of those studies if you have one?

Please let me know, thank you. :)

Inside of your HEAD, not bread. Goodness, I hate when I type the wrong word!

I don't have a true feeling of liquid, but I do get this creepy, crawling feeling in my head. It might be the same thing. *edit* I'm not a confirmed leaker, but I hope to be soon! I've never wanted something to come out "positive" before this, but I could have been diagnosed and treated for cancer in the amount of time that I have had tests and no diagnosis with this!

MY BRAIN MRIS WERE NORMAL AND I STILL HAD A CSF LEAK. My doctor told me in about 90 percent of people with a leak, there is an abnormal brain mri. I was in that other ten percent. Maybe you are. Mine was found in an MRI of my cervical and thoracic spine. And even 2 doctors missed that. The doctors that found mine at the Mayo Clinic told me it is hard to find and they have to really know what they're looking for. Please post an update. Xo