Possible shunt malfunction
 

I need some advice. I've been having headaches, nausea, dizziness, just a general drunk feeling for the past couple of weeks. I wouldn't say it's getting worse, just not getting any better. I had to sleep last night with wet towel on my neck b/c of pain. This is very out of the ordinary. Just a brief background, I had a shunt in '84 when I was 2 months and had it revised a couple of times since. I also had a 2nd shunt inserted shortly after that first one but it stopped working along the way and I've been able to function with just one. My last revision was in '97. My dr did a CT scan last week and the ventricles were 3x enlarged from scan done in January. However, they did a test today to check the flow through the shunt and it showed to be working. I'm just very frustrated and looking for some relief. My dr is out of town this week and will return next week. In the meantime, they will not release me back to work until I see him. Anyone had any similar experiences???

Thanks,

Hydrotexan26

I had a shunt put in 11/30/2010 and have had a total of 8 shunt surgeries from that time thru 10/16/2011 due to repositioning,shunt failure,and infection in my brain from the shunt. The FIRST sign that something was wrong in each of my cases was that I would have nausea. I went to the dr. each time and ct of head showed nothing wrong. Low and behold one to two days later I would be totally out of it. My husband would actually have to carry me to the car and after the shunt was fixed I would be back in my right mind. I have no memory of these things happening and my long term and short term memory have been affected. Make sure you don't have a temperature (even a low one) that may indicate infection. My advice is not to wait if you have been feeling "drunk" for 2 weeks. Have you been diagnosed with Chiari Malformation and/or Arnold's Chiari? Is that why you have hydrocephelus. That would explain the pain in the your neck. I was 48 yrs old before any of this showed up although it is a congenital condition, meaning I was born with it. I had my 9th surgery 2/15/11 "Chiari Decompression Surgery" and it made all the difference with the constant pain in my neck. Hope this helps you. Sorry it's so long....

I have actually never been diagnosed with Chiari but at this point it could be anything. One of my friends who is a nurse suggested maybe vertigo with the woozy drunk feeling in head. What really sucks is the doctors are in no hurry to help. We live about 2 hours away from the nearest neurosurgeon so it's like when I go to the dr I am willing to spend the whole day or days there if I have to if it helps them figure what's going on. As of right now, I only have been diagnosed with Hydrocephalus and it is congenital. At one point one shunt was not enough to drain the fluid, then it stopped working and they said the one was working fine but it could be that it's not enough anymore. I just want some relief. Thanks for replying. I'm still working on finding a dr that will see me. I will not stop bugging them til they make an appt. It's like they want to wait until it's an emergency before doing anything.Sucks!

Chiari is also a congenital malformation. It takes the RIGHT neurosurgeon to detect it on a MRI. Before I found the dr. that diagnosed it another neurosurgeon said my problem was not neurological....he was an idiot in my opinion because a week later I was having brain surgery. Chiari is hard to diagnose but it basically means you were born with a skull not large enough for your brain. Hope you get some relief soon.

Chiari causes hydrocephelus because your brain is herniated through the base of your skull and does not allow spinal fluid flow, therefore fluid builds in your head which is what hydrocephelus is when you get right down to it.

correction: first surgery 11/2009

correction: first surgery 11/2009

Update
 

So, I finally got into my neurosurgeon today. He said my shunt is working, however, not to it's full capacity. He finally has decided that my symptoms are severe enough to do surgery. I currently have a VP shunt and he will be replacing the valve with one of the new programmable ones. He said the tubing is still draining, it's the valve that's slowing down. Any advice or people that have the new programmable shunts please let me know your experiences.

Thanks!