I just returned from hydrocephalus surgery. I thought that my experience
would be of interest to this group.

A few years ago, I started to feel extremely tired and unable to think and
walk well. In the last 18 mo, it became even worse. I got a lot of BPH
treatment because I thought getting up too much at night was leading to
insufficient sleep. I also went to a psychiatrist for treatment of
depression. None of this ended up helping. After much complaining, my
primary care physician finally had me get at MRI. He first thought that I
needed more excercise. That was OK with me but not with the hydrocephalus.
My guess is that normal pressure hydrocephalus of elderly is greatly
underdiagnosed.

Hydrocephalus, sometimes called water on the brain, results when cerebro
spinal fluid does not find an exit from the brain. The pressure builds up.
The pressure causes symptoms of dementia and intellectual capacity. It
causes Parkinsonism like symptoms with tremor. It produces a bad gait, as if
you are walking on fly paper.

The symptom of most interest to this group is urinary incontinence. More
about that later.

The treatment of hydrocephalus is rather limited. Fluid from the ventricles
of the brain is directed to a check valve. The pressure of the valve can be
adjusted externally using magnets. A drain tube goes under the skin from the
check valve to the peritoneal cavity where the fluid is drained.

I had the surgery less than a week ago. I am surprised at how little pain it
has caused. I already feel better. My mind is clearer and I walk better. I
think the pressure setting of the valve should be reduced to get an even
better effect, but that is in the future.

After the surgery, my urine was blocked. I had to be catheterized. The
result was an immediate draining of 1200mL. The amount surprised me too.
After that, I got great urge to go at the level of about 150mL. There were a
few times that the urgency came up so fast, that I could not control it. The
volume is now building up and the urgency is diminishing as well.

I still have to get up in the middle of the night, but the total amount of
urnine passed during the night is greatly diminshed even as I drink more
water than I used to. I think that there is enough of a change that I will
try to avoid additional BPH treatment for now.

Conclusion. For me, ventricular-peritoneal shunt surgery was a life saver. I
mean that I wanted to get cured. But if I died from the surgery, it still
would have been a change for the better.

Hydrocephalus is not a common cause of urinary difficulty. But if it is, it
can be improved with serious treatment. If you think you have such problems,
good medical help is essential. On the other hand, you might have to badger
your health providers to get that kind of help. You can Google
*hydrocephalus* if you want more information.

Bill