Monday, April 20, 2009

pseudo tumor cerebri - My Story

Hi Family and Friends, Well I am starting this blog mostly to help me focus on what I need to do and help me keep track of my progress and accomplishments. I want to also be able to provide help and information on my experiances, and hope that it could help someone else that might be going through the same thing.

Well, first I want to share with you why I am going on this jouney and what I have been faced with and the challenges that I have been trying to over come. So, here is a little bit of history and details about my WHY...

Well in 2006 I started a journey that I never thought I would ever go on. In December of 2006 I woke up in the middle of the night not able to see anything I was blind, my vision came back shorlty after but it was not the same.. I had to go see a Neuro-opthomolist (Dr Bradley Katz of the Moran Eye Center) is my Fabulous Dr. He helped me find out what all my symtoms were meaning. he became more then just an eye Dr. Through many visits and Test I was Diagnoused with pseudo tumor cerebri ...

What is Pseudotumor Cerebri?

Pseudotumor cerebri literally means "false brain tumor." It is due to high pressure within the skull caused by the buildup or poor absorption of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The disorder is most common in women between the ages of 20 and 50. Symptoms of pseudotumor cerebri, which include headache, nausea, vomiting, and pulsating sounds within the head, closely mimic symptoms of large brain tumors.

The disorder may cause progressive, permanent visual loss in some patients. In some cases, pseudotumor cerebri can reacur. In my case I have lost 30% vision in my left eye and live with a consistant daily headache that has never gone away and increased in severity depending on the day. Some days are better then others and some are worse then others.
I was put on several medications to reduce the fluid on my brain when I was diagnosed I had a procedure called Spinal Tap which is when they take a needle into your spine and measure your pressure normal Pressure is 5 - 12 but mine was 39. I have had several of these procedures since diagnosise to help releave pain from the pressure..

When conventional medical therapy fails to alleviate the symptoms and prevent pathologic decline, surgical intervention is the only treatment. Cerebrospinal fluid shunting procedures are commonly employed in PTC patients, but are successful in only 70 to 80 percent of cases.
The other surgucal treatment that has been found to benifit is Bariatric surgery it is now being consider another long-term procedure of choice for with PTC paitent and is shown to have a much higher rate of success than CSF–peritoneal shunting, as well as providing resolution of additional obesity comorbidity. Increased intraabdominal pressure associated with central obesity is the probable etiology of PTC,
So through much research, doctors assistance and many prayers, we choose the Bariatric surgery over brain Surgery. Now there could still be a chance that I might still need the shunt, but having the weight loss first will decrease the risk if a shunt surgery if it is needed in the future. So this is where the purpose of this blog starts now. This blog will stand as my journal and days going through my journey to a new life. So I know this was long but I wanted you to see and understand my story first. And Understand My WHY!
With much love,
Karianne