ct921

Well, I was skimming thru the forum and saw this topic of Pseudo Tumor and thought I need to add my 2 cents. I have been thru pretty much every aspect of pseudo tumor. It all started several years ago. I started noticing vision loss and problems with my equilibrium. Saw several doctors who decided my optic nerve was swollen. I was sent to a neuro-opt. He put me on Diamox and told me I needed to lose weight. I lost about 20 lbs over the next year and saw the doctor several times. I eventually got off the meds and thought everything was ok. About 3 years later I started noticing a nasal drip. I assumed it was allergies and went to the doc. several times and tried different meds and nose sprays. It was weird because it was like water leaking from a faucet. If I bent over it came dripping out. Finally went to a ENT and he said I had a CSF leak. The intra-cranial pressure had over time caused a place to break thru my skull and the spinal fluid was leaking out. I had surgery to "patch" the hole. Stayed in ICU flat of my back for a week waiting for the hole to heal. Came home and it broke through again. I saw another doctor, a neurosurgeon this time and he said I would either need a shunt or crainiotomy (the latter is a lot more serious surgery). He did a lumbar puncture (I had numerous of these over the years) and he decided we could go with the shunt. I had surgery where he placed the shunt in my back. I stayed in the hospital for about 5 days waiting for my pressure to get back to normal. The headaches were the worst pain you can imagine. I came home and the shunt was working fine, but since I had already met deductibles I wanted to have lapband surgery since I figured my medical history would allow the insurance to approve the surgery. Sure enough I was approved and on Nov 30, 2007 I was banded. I have lost about 55 lbs (I am a slow loser) and between the shunt and the weight loss I have not had any more symptons of the psedo tumor. My word of advice is to not ignore the symptoms. This is serious stuff.