I have suffered from severe headaches and visual problem since I was about 9 or 10. My mother took me to several doctors at the onset of my problems, and they basically told her there was nothing wrong with me and I just wanted attention. Therefore, I came to the conslusion that there was nothing to be done about my headaches so I just basically got used to having a continual headache. One day, when I was 29, I was driving home from work and all of a sudden all of the cars on the road split into two. This was on a Friday and by Monday my double vision was not gone so I went to my family doctor. He looked into my eyes and did a few neurological exams and made an on-the-spot diagnosis of Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (aka Pseudotumor Cerebri.) Of course, he did have to rule out the possibility of a brain tumor, so I had to have an MRI. This showed no brain tumor, so I had a spinal tap to measure my spinal fluid pressure. My fluid pressure levels were unmeasureable by the instruments at the hospital where I had my test. So, at the age of 29, after about 20 years of headaches, I was finally diagnosed with IIH. At the onset of my diagnosis, I went through some horrible experiences trying to find the right medication to take. After a year and a half, I was either not able to tolerate or allergic to all of the medications used to treat this condition. Therefore, in August of 1999 I was referred to a neurosurgeon and I had a lumbo-perotineal shunt placed at the base of my spine to drain the fluid. When I woke up from surgery, I could immediately feel the benefits of the shunt. However, by November of that year my pressure was up again. I underwent shunt revision surgery in December of 1999. The neurosurgeon said that the shunt had become dislodged. Therefore, he assured me he secured the second one very securely. I still have my ups and downs with this condition. The shunt does work, but at times when my pressure is extremely high, it doesn't work quite fast enough to completely eliminate all headaches. So, I am still dealing with this on a daily basis.
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