The Real Story

I was diagnosed with Pseudo-tumor Cerebrei in November, 2009. Was admitted in Hopkins after a bunch of misdiagnoses. At that time, they found that I had a venus stenosis (which from my understanding, means a vein in the back of my head is small). They had discussed Stenting the vein. But it was decided to start with the medicine route. I also had third nerve palsy and 7th nerve palsy, with a lot of vision loss, specifically in my peripheral vision. I had received various lumbar punctures, all showing elevated pressures. And had a spinal drain. I was seen by Dr MA, a neuro-ophthalmologist at S and continue to see him. I was taking Diamox for fluid drainage and Topamax for my eyes.

In May, 2012, after taking myself off all meds because I didn't have insurance, i started having symptoms again and was admitted to SN hospital. There, I received spinal taps and decided to get a shunt. I did not want to go back on medication. My surgeon was Dr S, who inserted a non-adjustable peritoneal lumbar shunt. After my staples were removed, I began to feel much better and had been managing healthily for two year plus.

In October of 2014, I moved back to B and began seeing Dr A again. Presented with good visual fields and good vision. I also began seeing Dr MW at H as my new neurosurgeon to manage my case. He recommended that I meet with Dr DR at Hopkins to have a neurosurgeon familiar with my case in case of complication.

In July of 2014, I began feeling symptoms again. Headaches and nausea and after calling Dr W, it was recommended that I go straight to H ER. I was cleared by Opthalmology and never seen by Neuro. CT scans and X-ray showed nothing and I was sent home and told to follow up with my neurologist. Dr. W's office was very difficult to get a hold of. I was finally sent to Dr YC, a headache specialist and colleague of Dr W. With only a consultation and no testing done, she said that it was most likely not migraines and felt very certain that my symptoms were because of my shunt. On August 20, I went to H and had a lumbar puncture with contrast and then did three Shunt Patancy Studies over a period of 24 hours. A week later, i was seen by Dr R who confirmed that the shunt has malfunctioned and is not draining CSF. I am currently waiting to hear from Dr G's office in H to schedule a CTV. Dr R would like to find out if the I am a candidate for Stenting due to my Venus Stenoses before committing to replacing the shunt. I have not been able to reach anyone at Dr W office to get medication treatment in the meantime and went to my general doctor, Dr E R at S H. He prescribed Diamox and Zoloft and left messages for Dr W and his nurse practitioner CW. Dr R's secretary was informed by Dr W office that they no longer wanted to follow my case and felt that I should be seen completely by H.

So yeah...