Pseudotumor cerebri Question

[amy1721]

I was diagnosed with Pseudotumor cerebri about a year and a half ago. I deal with optic nerve swelling and occasional headaches. About 3 weeks ago, I started having extreme pain in my eyeballs and sharp shooting pains on the left side of my head. These symptoms came on fast and lasted for two weeks, turning into having an extreme pressure feeling on the left side of my head and tingling in my arms/hands with some twitching in my face for over a week now. I had a CT scan w/ and w/o contrast which were normal. The pressure got so bad that I ended up going to the ER 2 nights ago. The lumbar puncture revealed an opening pressure of 54. They took 20cc's off and closed with a pressure of 21. I was then sent home.  It has been two days, and I feel the pressure coming back. My head hurts to cough, sneeze, laugh, ect... I know that Pseudotumor cerebri is generally not life threatening and that your vision is at stake, but my concern is that having a pressure of 54 could be dangerous or life threatening.  My neurologist is contradicting a lot of his statements and acting as little unsure himself. I am worried that even though pseudotumor isn't life threatening, that a pressure level that high with pseudotumor could be. Does anyone know when a pressure is over a certain level, when it is to be considered life threatening? Also, since this came on me so fast, could me having Pseudotumor cerebri be a coincidence and something else is causing the high pressure? I did have a concussion about a month ago and had been sick prior to that with an ear infection that took 4 rounds of antibiotics to clear. Again, the CT scan was normal. Any Ideas?  

[amy0713]

My daughter age 35 was having headaches on the right side of her head behind her ear that came on quickly, and would not respond to pain meds. They got so bad she was taken to the ER, they did ct scan & spinal tap, both were normal. they gave her muscle relaxers and pain meds.She saw her primary physician that diagnosed her with tension headaches.Gave her another kind of pain med. and muscle relaxers. After 6 days the headaches were keeping her up at night. Then the following day she started having double vision, the next day her right eye was turned inward. Went to ER and was admitted, they did  MRI, MRA, and MRV, all came back normal. Since then she has seen her eye DR.and 2 different neurosurgeons. The headaches are gone but has left her with both eyes crossed, double vision, and sharp shooting pains in her face and eye area.The Dr's don't have any answers to any of this, what could be happening? And are there any answers to what can be done?

[pigsty213]

My friend is in hospital after collapsing, she is having terrific headaches, she has had a lumbar puncture which showed protein and an MRI scan which appears normal so far, awaiting more results.  What can this be, she is 46 years old with 3 young boys.

[Dr. A. Srivastava]

Hi, Thank you for your question. I think your symptoms might be either due to post concussion or neurological symptoms as a result of growing pseudotumor.  Besides anxiety aggravates these symptoms. These neurological symptoms sometimes include migraine like headache, numbness in arm. It is quite difficult to say anything precisely without being able to clinically examine you or seeing your investigation reports. Hence I would recommend that you appoint a neurologist for a thorough evaluation of your symptoms. I hope it helps.