CSF Leakage from Ear and TBI

[a55telly]

My husband took a very hard fall on a concrete walkway over a year ago.  Shortly after, he started having numerous neurological symptoms (double vision, balance difficulties, speech difficulties, memory problems, cognitive dysfunction, etc).  Before the fall, he was a normal, healthy man.  The neurologist has run test after test.  In fact, he told us that the only test he had not done yet was a lumbar puncture.  The neurologist does not think that the fall is responsible for my husband's symptoms, however, over a year later, his condition remains a mystery to the neurologist.  I still maintain that the fall my husband took HAS to be the problem.  How else could he be normal one day and have all these problems the next?  I believe he sustained a brain injury much like shaken-baby syndrome.  A particular symptom that the neurologist is not aware of is that my husband started having a problem with some sort of fluid leaking from his ears.  I have two questions:  could that possibly be CSF leakage caused by the fall he took?  and can TBI be present even though it has not shown up on any tests?

[Chalky_396]

Hi, It sounds like your husband has Postconcussion syndrome. yes, it is a long time after the event but is possible.
It is very unlikely that the Doctors missed something on CT scans, the reason for these scans reduces the need for lumbar puncture tests in which caution applies to some head injuries anyway.
My initial thought that it could be a fracture base of skull with some minor tear of the meninges. this would account for the leakage of CSF however, trust your doctors findings and if you are still in doubt ask for a second opinion.

[Gina04]

It seems like something would have shown up in the tests.  However, I do think it is possible that the doctors missed something.  I also think that the leaking fluid could be CSF.  I had a friend who keep having a runny nose and it ended up being CSF.  They did a craniotomy to fix the situation.  It was kind of surprising to me because I had had brain surgery for seizures a few years earlier and hadn't come across anyone who had.