A few monts ago,I started getting horrible, what I thought, was gas pains. Either on my left or right side, lower abdomen. I take gas pills, which seem to help a little.
I also developed, what I thought, think is a pinched nerve in the right side of my lower back. I get pins and needles, from the back of my right leg, to the bottom of my foot. Not painful, just annoying!
I had a BA on the right front, that was clipped. Then 2 months later they put in a shunt that goes from behind my right ear, across my collar bone and drains into my stomach.
Call your neurosurgeon. When I had similar pains, my neurosurgeon ordered a Cat Scan to be sure there were no cysts forming at the end of the shunt tubing in my abdomen which he told me is common. In my case no cysts had formed. I think perhaps some scar tissue had detached from the tube but who knows? Over time the pain went away, but at least I knew nothing was wrong.
As for your other pain, I'm not a doctor, but it sounds like sciatica, a pinched nerve, you're lucky if it's not painful.
By the way, my shunt is on the left side of my head, and the tubing runs behind my left ear, etc, just as yours does.
I too have a VP shunt, with every surgery my headaches and sensations has changed. None of the surgeons have really taken a lot of notice. At first it was sweating profusely. I have a woollen underlay on my bed. It is decomposing underneath me, from sweat. I would wake at 2am saturated, need to get a towel to dry myself. I'd get tingles, not so much pins and needles, but my hands and feet tingled. Visual disturbances, hearing disturbances, balance problems, photophobia and an awful feeling of pressure behind my eyes, like they are going to explode from my skull. In the dr's view "... is the fluid being removed?..." "Yes" "Job done". The side effects are not investigated unless they are considered to be shunt or 'appliance' related. This is partially why I ignored symptoms that were a bit more serious, I wasn't to know how serious at the time, but I learnt. DOH, don't do that again.
I've had awful symptoms over the years, but once they have done scans and eliminated any 'known' causes, they seem very quick to write it off. Unfortunately it is not that easy for us as living with some of these side effects, it is horrendous at times and when I try to explain they look at me I'm a nutter. Or explain it all as an over reaction or make statements like "Ohh, you just have a low tolerance to pain...". I've said it before but, I'd like them to manage some of this for a day, a single day and see how low there damn tolerences are. Not likely, I know, but they have very little to no idea IMO.
So we manage the best way we can, its all we can do. So go get it checked out, follow through with the advice you are given, even get a 2nd opinion, but, it truly is bout all you can do.
I'm sorry to say this might sound a bit glum and negative, but its true.
I too have a VP shunt, with every surgery my headaches and sensations has changed. None of the surgeons have really taken a lot of notice. At first it was sweating profusely. I have a woollen underlay on my bed. It is decomposing underneath me, from sweat. I would wake at 2am saturated, need to get a towel to dry myself. I'd get tingles, not so much pins and needles, but my hands and feet tingled. Visual disturbances, hearing disturbances, balance problems, photophobia and an awful feeling of pressure behind my eyes, like they are going to explode from my skull. In the dr's view "... is the fluid being removed?..." "Yes" "Job done". The side effects are not investigated unless they are considered to be shunt or 'appliance' related. This is partially why I ignored symptoms that were a bit more serious, I wasn't to know how serious at the time, but I learnt. DOH, don't do that again.
I've had awful symptoms over the years, but once they have done scans and eliminated any 'known' causes, they seem very quick to write it off. Unfortunately it is not that easy for us as living with some of these side effects, it is horrendous at times and when I try to explain they look at me I'm a nutter. Or explain it all as an over reaction or make statements like "Ohh, you just have a low tolerance to pain...". I've said it before but, I'd like them to manage some of this for a day, a single day and see how low there damn tolerences are. Not likely, I know, but they have very little to no idea IMO.
So we manage the best way we can, its all we can do. So go get it checked out, follow through with the advice you are given, even get a 2nd opinion, but, it truly is bout all you can do.
I'm sorry to say this might sound a bit glum and negative, but its true.
Thanks Mel for your reply. I spoke with the PA for my nurosurgeon. She told me the pain is actually a side effect of the shunt . The tingle down my leg and the pin and needles in my foot is a result of a pinched nerve In my back.
Merl said:
Hey Nana,
I too have a VP shunt, with every surgery my headaches and sensations has changed. None of the surgeons have really taken a lot of notice. At first it was sweating profusely. I have a woollen underlay on my bed. It is decomposing underneath me, from sweat. I would wake at 2am saturated, need to get a towel to dry myself. I'd get tingles, not so much pins and needles, but my hands and feet tingled. Visual disturbances, hearing disturbances, balance problems, photophobia and an awful feeling of pressure behind my eyes, like they are going to explode from my skull. In the dr's view "... is the fluid being removed?..." "Yes" "Job done". The side effects are not investigated unless they are considered to be shunt or 'appliance' related. This is partially why I ignored symptoms that were a bit more serious, I wasn't to know how serious at the time, but I learnt. DOH, don't do that again.
I've had awful symptoms over the years, but once they have done scans and eliminated any 'known' causes, they seem very quick to write it off. Unfortunately it is not that easy for us as living with some of these side effects, it is horrendous at times and when I try to explain they look at me I'm a nutter. Or explain it all as an over reaction or make statements like "Ohh, you just have a low tolerance to pain...". I've said it before but, I'd like them to manage some of this for a day, a single day and see how low there damn tolerences are. Not likely, I know, but they have very little to no idea IMO.
So we manage the best way we can, its all we can do. So go get it checked out, follow through with the advice you are given, even get a 2nd opinion, but, it truly is bout all you can do.
I'm sorry to say this might sound a bit glum and negative, but its true.
I saw my neurosurgeon and try to explain some trivial side effects of my shunt, which are… Gas, constipation, noisy farting in the morning and pain in the chest or shouder as well as I can feel the tube moving in my belly. Well, we did an x-ray and my surgeon told me that technically speaking It was perfect and unless I had a real emergency, He could not help me. I put on weight, I have sometime a big belly and even though I do yoga, play golf, pay attention to my food and I am nearly always follow a diet. Nothing changed. So. Now, I decided not to care anymore and live with those small side effects.
I can relate to the gas! I live alone, so no big deal! I see my neurosurgeon on this coming Monday, and will have a MRI. I do have a few questions. Will my balance comes back? Will my brain confusion stop? As for the constipation, I take Milk of Magnisium. I did gain a few pounds, but I just do the Atkins for a few weeks, then watch my carbs. I'm a big knitter and seamstress...having a very hard time following instructions. I know they say it takes up to two years for the brain to heal. For me it's only a year, 12/24/14!
Fondly,
Leslie
luxtine said:
I saw my neurosurgeon and try to explain some trivial side effects of my shunt, which are... Gas, constipation, noisy farting in the morning and pain in the chest or shouder as well as I can feel the tube moving in my belly. Well, we did an x-ray and my surgeon told me that technically speaking It was perfect and unless I had a real emergency, He could not help me. I put on weight, I have sometime a big belly and even though I do yoga, play golf, pay attention to my food and I am nearly always follow a diet. Nothing changed. So. Now, I decided not to care anymore and live with those small side effects.
I've had 5 bouts of brain surgery and with each the side effects/recovery have all been very different. First it was sweating and I mean profusely, then it was what I call 'tingles', not pins and needles but tingles in my hands and feet, visual and hearing distortions, then balance issues and gas. As for diet, well, I haven't put any weight on, in fact I wish I could. My appetite has vanished and if I lose much more weight I'd almost be a shadow lol. Like others I've been told all is OK, but if this is 'ok' then something isn't right. And the dr's say "...unless I had a real emergency..." so I ignored some symptoms, then when an emergency really did occur the dr's got angry as it should have been followed up earlier, but how do we know what is and isn't an emergency? Then I had a dr tell me "ohh don't worry, it's all in your head" as if I didn't know that already, but he's meaning psychological, but I'm sorry this is not imaginary at all.
"I know they say it takes up to two years for the brain to heal." Well, its been almost 3yrs since my last incident and things are FAR, FAR from 'normal' or anything close to good.
i have a vp shunt and have been to every doctor possible, my left side kills mt at times the only thing that helps me is as you said gas relieve or bowel movement, i take sever gas x and it does help, i believe after going to all docs the shunt tube is pushing on my intestine when i am bloated and causes horrible pain and paying attention to what i eat such as bread it bloats me up alot i hope this helps you also in all the 7 proceedures from my shunt it has been 6 or 7 yrs it has not let up about the gas and pain, also i am still forgetful and need help with remembering things balance is better but not good