I had three days of pain free no drama from my shunt this week. Yesterday, barometric pressure headaches returned. Apparently, there is snow in the atmosphere expected later today. I’ve had episodes of dizziness since yesterday. The shunt is adjusting itself again and I feel distal catheter pain in my abdomen yesterday and today. Saturday morning around 11am was when I felt light throbbing from my shunt valve at the top of my head. This happened while I was driving yesterday, which almost never happens. Today, besides the pressure in my forehead, there is some pain in the back of my head from the chiari malformation, I acquired during the shunt revision in 2009.
Tag Archives: stroke
2010s
I’ve been pain free for two whole days this week. Which means…
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| X Ray image of my shunt 2014 to present. |
No elevated csf pressure in my forehead.
No pain from the shunt valve and/or distal catheter in my abdomen and neck.
No nausea associated with the shunt adjusting itself.
No right eye pain (strabismus surgery eye)
No dizziness when moving my head or sensitive scalp.
I also haven’t heard my shunt beep since 2016.
So for now, I don’t feel my shunt at all. Something I haven’t experienced in a while. I took this for granted prior to my shunt being moved in 2009.
Before then, I only knew the shunt was in my brain when it stopped working….
In the 2000s I had one revision in 2009.
In the 2010s I had shunt revision surgery in 2011 and two in 2014.
Having chronic pain makes me grumpy/irritable/depressed and there have been times when I wished I could remove my shunt myself. Obviously, this can’t be done…My nervous system cannot survive without one…
It’s a great feeling to not be in pain and not want to wage war against my medical device.
Here’s hoping for less pain and no shunt revisions in the next decade.