VP Shunt & Constipation
 

This seems to be a huge part of the problems I am having with my shunt over the past 10 yrs. Has anyone else noticed this? I take softeners, laxatives, fiber additives and still have problems.
Any thoughts or comments would be welcomed...

Wow. I just registered to ask questions about this.

My son (an adult) was found unresponsive in his apartment. No one had seen him for about 36 hours so we are not sure how long he was laying there. They do not know for certain what caused him to go down. His ventricles were large, but they were able to tap his shunt. Shunt series was ok.

He is currently in the ICU and on a ventilator. The only thing really notable, besides being unresponsive and on a vent, is he is super constipated. They have been trying to get him to go, but so far no luck. Tomorrow they will decrease his sedation which should help.

My kid has a long history of "intermittent" shunt failure and no one has ever really been able to track down what is wrong with him. He has done way better this last year since he had a shunt revision, but now he is worse than ever. I can't help but wonder if his constipation issues have been contributing to his problems all along. I never thought to check with him about that, but his girlfriend says he complains about it often and he's prone to being constipated.

I would love to hear of anyone else who has noticed any shunt problems associated with constipation. It seems that you (OP) are more thinking the shunt itself is causing it? Or do you have shunt issues when you are constipated?

VP shunts and constipation
 

I've been told by my NS that constipation, with a ventriculoperitoneal shunt, will cause pressure headaches. Essentially, your body is trying to maintain an equilibrium of pressure, and when you have more stool in your peritoneal area, it increases the pressure in your abdomen, so then the CSF backs up into your ventricles (causing headaches or worse shunt problems) to equalize the pressure. I notice that I get pressure headaches when I'm super backed up, however i've never had shunt failure due to constipation.

In a (possibly related, possibly unrelated) topic, I had a bowel obstruction about 7 years ago. My intestines were covered with scar tissue about an inch thick. I had just had acute appendicitis with a full surgical extraction (not laproscopic). The doctor hypothesized that the scar tissue developed as a response to the CSF draining into that area. Basically he said that CSF is not a naturally-occurring substance in the abdomen and so my body developed scar tissue as a response. My NS said that this was NOT the case and that CSF actually has a very similar composition to the fluids in your abdomen and would not directly cause the formation of the scar tissue. He said it was more likely a response to the appendicitis and debris from the infection. I don't know which (if either) is true, particularly because it seems that my NS is sometimes motivated by saving face and evading blame.

All this is to say that if you have a shunt that drains into your abdomen, it is likely affected by constipation. It'd be nice if someone else could corroborate or refute this with their own experience. I hope this was helpful and i'll be thinking of you and your son and sending him positive recovery and wellness vibes from Minnesota!

Welcome 8675309. :Wave-Hello:

The neurosurgeons we see have checked possible constipation during shunt problems but has not been an issue yet. So I know it can be an issue, just no personal experience there. Our kid has a slow system according to the gi, but nothing was dxed, not really a problem so we didn't want lots of stressful testing. She has been constipated once or twice ever. She failed the lactose testing but doesn't seem to have any symptoms (which I am familiar with). Thought anesthesia can also mess one's system up, but haven't had that problem because if there are a few days where the shunt is flakey, the kid's appetite goes and her system is empty most of the times we show up at the ED.

If there is some chronic issue, a good GI could help. We liked the guy we saw but just checking out what we needed to cross off the list was too much. Miralax messed her up because she wasn't initially having problems (even with a slow system). Figuring out her pains were from seizures made me happy we could drop a specialist but I know they are fundamental for a lot of neuro patients.