Pseudo Tumor Cerebri?

Question

I just wanted to know if anyone else has this problem and has had to have a spinal shunt. The doc says it's time for the shunt after 4 spinals with extremely high opening pressure. Any info would really help.

Answer 1

pseudo,tumor,cerebri:

an abnormal condition that is characterized by increased intracranial pressure, headaches of varying intensity, and papilledema without any demonstrable intracranial lesion and that tends to occur in overweight women from 20 to 50 years of age -- called also benign intracranial hypertension

Essentially - if you have too much CSF (cerebrospinal fluid) in your head, the pressures are increased. This gives rise to the pressure headaches.

This can come about if your brain is producing too much CSF or if your body is unable to absorb it.

The shunt is in an effort to reduce the CSF pressure by taking the excess out (above a certain pressure) and it goes down the shunt and elsewhere into your body where it is absorbed.

Answer 2

Girl leave the shunt alone. I read you have what is termed a hemiphaliegic migraines as do I (go numb looks like stroke)I went thirteen years without diagnosis. But after neurologist found it, they did five spinal taps, without success. I put a stop to that. My Eye surgeon put me on Diamox 150mg three times a day. Continued my fields test to make sure I wasn't having blind spots get bigger without realizing. After about a year of monthly fields test showing no change and only two migraines, they decreased Diamox to twice a day. Continued to have fields test every four months for next year, then decreased Diamox to once daily with only two migraines that year. I have been off Diamox since 2004 and get feilds tests yearly.

Please research shunt carefully. A doctor here in Ar placed lots of shunts unnecessarily because he was getting kick backs from pharmaceutical company. The shunt can clog and cause more problems even death.