This is the path the VP shunt takes.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Am I alone?
I was wondering if there who else shared my pain in the head. I decided to research and read other's stories. I think it is important to band together to help ourselves in a way that perhaps the doctors can not. I came across a site that seems to meet our needs.
MSN has created a community for those living with pseudotumor cerebri and their family members. The site operated by the manager, Heather, provides profiles of others and message boards for easy communicating. It also gives links to the IHRF, the Intercranial Hypertension Research Foundation, and the IH registry, which gives people an opportunity to sign up and learn about their own condition and others.
MSN has created a community for those living with pseudotumor cerebri and their family members. The site operated by the manager, Heather, provides profiles of others and message boards for easy communicating. It also gives links to the IHRF, the Intercranial Hypertension Research Foundation, and the IH registry, which gives people an opportunity to sign up and learn about their own condition and others.
What are the options?
People living with PTC are limited to cure choices. Most people will treat the disease with the prescribed amount diuretic they are given. For others weight loss and exercise may be suggested. In extreme cases, shunting is necessary.
My doctor told me I need to lose some excess baggage and take my Diamox and Celexa regularly as well as be examined by a surgeon for the possibility of a shunt.
A shunt is a long thin tube that allows excessive cerebrospinal fluid to drain out into another part of the body and ultimately be flushed out completely. A shunt can be placed in through the top of your head, which is called a ventriculoperitoneal shunt, or VP. The other called lumboperitoneal shunt, or LP, is considered less invasive and is placed in the lower spine area where it sits under your skin and runs to your stomach and empties. It is almost like a river dumping into the ocean.
Unfortunately, planting a shunt is a risky procedure. The shunts can become clogged and then require another surgery to adjust the valves. There is also a fear of infection because the shunt has invaded a precious part of the body, the brain.
I have visited over four surgeons and still wait for a doctor who will perform the surgery. It seems the consensus is to lose weight and stay on the pills for a lifetime. This is not working for me.
My doctor told me I need to lose some excess baggage and take my Diamox and Celexa regularly as well as be examined by a surgeon for the possibility of a shunt.
A shunt is a long thin tube that allows excessive cerebrospinal fluid to drain out into another part of the body and ultimately be flushed out completely. A shunt can be placed in through the top of your head, which is called a ventriculoperitoneal shunt, or VP. The other called lumboperitoneal shunt, or LP, is considered less invasive and is placed in the lower spine area where it sits under your skin and runs to your stomach and empties. It is almost like a river dumping into the ocean.
Unfortunately, planting a shunt is a risky procedure. The shunts can become clogged and then require another surgery to adjust the valves. There is also a fear of infection because the shunt has invaded a precious part of the body, the brain.
I have visited over four surgeons and still wait for a doctor who will perform the surgery. It seems the consensus is to lose weight and stay on the pills for a lifetime. This is not working for me.
Friday, April 6, 2007
Bad eye
This is an eye suffering from papilledema. There are blind spots, swelling and a blurred disc. Papilledema is the swelling of optic nerve.
The anatomy of the Optic Nerve makes it a sensitive marker for problems inside the brain. This nerve is a thick cord that connects the back of each eyeball and it's retina to the brain. In its short span between the brain and the eye, the Optic Nerve's whole surface is bathed by Cerebral Spinal Fluid (CSF). Although this fluid protects the nerve from sudden movement, even slight increases in the pressure of this fluid (from swelling of the brain) can affect the Optic Nerve, because it can compress the nerve around it's whole circumference in a "choking" manner. It is when this nerve is exposed to high pressure, or when it develops inflammation of its own that it can bulge into the back wall of the eyeball resulting in Papilledema.
Can you see?
So I knew the PTC gave me daily headaches and sometimes put me into seizures that made me lose my faculties but losing my vision too? This was getting to be a real pain in the ass.
My doctor warned me that my eye sight had the potential to deteriorate and surgery would be a necessary answer for any extensive amount of damage. Gee thanks doc!
It was called papilledema. Papilledema is a condition in which increased pressure in or around the brain causes the optic nerve to swell where it enters the eye. I didn't want to go blind ... I had to be repaired.
I was sent to Wills Eye Center, a part of Jefferson Hospital, located in Philadelphia. I was to meet Dr. Sergott, who specializes in patients with papilledema caused by PTC. I arrived and rode the elevator to the 12th floor for my visit. Once it was my turn I was taken to the back for a number of tests. My eyes were invaded by every intern, young doctor and nurse on staff. Finally the doctor came in. He was to do the tell tale test that would pull all the results together. He squirted a piss yellow substance into my eyes and left me alone for a few minutes. He came back and stretched my eyes wide open and began observing closely to what was going on. I could not see a damn thing ... something in the mysterious liquid that was sprayed into my eyes. After some looking he told me to wash my face and he would be back with some results for me.
I washed up and sat there frantic state. What was wrong and what would happen?
Dr.Sergott re-entered the room and began talking as his cronies stood back and took notes.
"You have the beginning stages of papilledema," he said in a stern voice.
He went on to explain what this meant for me. Basically in a few months I had lost my peripheral vision in my left eye and was showing classic signs of blind spots in both eyes. He assured me that I did not need a sheathing surgery yet and that my eye condition could improve over time, but that would be up to me. I would have to take my medicine daily and keep all of my doctor's appointments and come every 3 months for check-ups. I could do that if it meant no knife on my eyes. While I was there he did up the dosage of my Diamox to 1000 mg a day in order to try and better control the obvious over flow of fluid.
Fear set in. This was serious. It only took a few months to take perfect vision and screw it up. It only took a few seconds to make me loose my thoughts and fall to the floor anymore. I had to do whatever the doctor's said.
My doctor warned me that my eye sight had the potential to deteriorate and surgery would be a necessary answer for any extensive amount of damage. Gee thanks doc!
It was called papilledema. Papilledema is a condition in which increased pressure in or around the brain causes the optic nerve to swell where it enters the eye. I didn't want to go blind ... I had to be repaired.
I was sent to Wills Eye Center, a part of Jefferson Hospital, located in Philadelphia. I was to meet Dr. Sergott, who specializes in patients with papilledema caused by PTC. I arrived and rode the elevator to the 12th floor for my visit. Once it was my turn I was taken to the back for a number of tests. My eyes were invaded by every intern, young doctor and nurse on staff. Finally the doctor came in. He was to do the tell tale test that would pull all the results together. He squirted a piss yellow substance into my eyes and left me alone for a few minutes. He came back and stretched my eyes wide open and began observing closely to what was going on. I could not see a damn thing ... something in the mysterious liquid that was sprayed into my eyes. After some looking he told me to wash my face and he would be back with some results for me.
I washed up and sat there frantic state. What was wrong and what would happen?
Dr.Sergott re-entered the room and began talking as his cronies stood back and took notes.
"You have the beginning stages of papilledema," he said in a stern voice.
He went on to explain what this meant for me. Basically in a few months I had lost my peripheral vision in my left eye and was showing classic signs of blind spots in both eyes. He assured me that I did not need a sheathing surgery yet and that my eye condition could improve over time, but that would be up to me. I would have to take my medicine daily and keep all of my doctor's appointments and come every 3 months for check-ups. I could do that if it meant no knife on my eyes. While I was there he did up the dosage of my Diamox to 1000 mg a day in order to try and better control the obvious over flow of fluid.
Fear set in. This was serious. It only took a few months to take perfect vision and screw it up. It only took a few seconds to make me loose my thoughts and fall to the floor anymore. I had to do whatever the doctor's said.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)