Slit Ventricle Syndrome with cyclic episodes of elevated intra-cranial pressure

I am a 33 year old overweight female that was diagnosed with hydrocephalus when I was 18 months old. I have had a shunt for my entire life, my current 1 I have had for 10 years. It has always worked intermittently but really started to malfunction after I gave birth to my daughter via C-section 10 years ago. I put on a lot of weight and although my weight didn't cause my problem, it is making it hard for them to treat it. I have slit ventricle syndrome and cyclic episodes of  elevated intra-cranial pressure, debilitating headaches and sometimes I seize. My doctors have said because my brain has lost its elasticity and my ventricles are like slits I am not a candidate for shunt revision of my Ventriculo peritoneal shunt. I will be doing fine, for a couple of months and then one morning wake up with a pounding headache that gets progressively worse even when I take medication. I am unable to walk and sometimes I seize due to the high pressure. I am taken by ambulance where lumbar punctures are performed to relieve pressure in my brain. I have been going through this for 10 years.It seems like no one wants to help me. I woke up yesterday with a very terrible headache and was taken to the ER, the radiologist that did my lumbar puncture when I was in terrible pain, made sure to kick me when I was down and berate me about my weight. I have struggled with my weight my entire life. If he didn't want to treat me, he should have said so, I didn't deserve to be berated. I have a VP shunt, and I have cyclic episodes of elevated intra-cranial pressure which causes debilitating headaches, occasion seizures, shunt revision is not an option for me, they are treating me reluctantly with lumbar punctures, I need help.

[Dr. A. Srivastava]

Hi. Thank you for your question Hydrocephalus is a condition in which the cerebrospinal fluid gets abnormally accumulated in the brain cavities.  This may cause increased intra cranial pressure leading to headache, convulsions, mental disability etc. It is constantly being formed in the ventricles of brain and drained out to circulatory system through special foramens. Hydrocephalus occurs due to either blockage of these foramens or overproduction of CSF. The treatment of hydrocephalus is surgical shunt placement. An alternative treatment for obstructive hydrocephalus is endoscopic third ventriculostomy but it may not be applicable to all patients depending upon internal anatomy of brain. Hope this information proved helpful.