--- In hydrocephalus@yahoogroups.com, "jaxxmc200" <jaxxmc200@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Erin, i do not have hydro myself, my daughter does she is 3 yrs
>old and has had several revisions.
>
> ***you know your own symptoms, so if you feel how you felt before
>then i would be concerned.***
>
> i hav had to struggle to get drs to listen to me when i KNEW her
>shunt wasn't working.

(I guess this is as good a time to introduce myself as any...)

Hi - I can relate some; I have a VP shunt (have had since I was around
a month old - I have hydro and spina bifida. I'm 32 now - well, will
be in 6 days, anyway...) and have had many many revisions over the
years - we've lost count, because my first six months or so, I was
going in VERY frequently. Then, around age 3, I had a revision, and
for twenty years or so, my shunt was fine.

In 2004, I started having enormous headaches. The doctors were all
puzzled, and were convinced it wasn't the shunt. In fact, at a yearly
spina bifida clinic put on by Kaiser Permanente, they had a guy who
they billed as "the world authority" on shunts. He told us that my
symptoms (headache, lightheadedness, blurred vision, etc...) were not
consistent with shunt failure. Hah. That night I had a seizure. I fell
out of bed, landed on my neck, cutting off my airway.

Here's where the remarkable bit comes in: the only reason I'm able to
type this to you is because of my cat, who heard me fall out of bed.
He ran to my bedroom door and started howling until my Mom came to
investigate what he wanted. She opened the door, and there I was.

So! Yeah, I can kinda relate to the doctors' disbelief. I wish it were
easier to convince 'em, y'know?

--Ian