Signs of a shunt problem?

[Spiffynikki]

My daughter (5 years old) has a vp shunt, placed four days after birth for chairi malformation with hydrocephalus. In the last five months she has complained off and on over mild headaches, but they weren't severe and didnt' even really change the way she played... so I didn't think over much about them.

Suddenly, in the last two weeks, she has become emotionally unstable, prone to violent reactions when angered, and uncooperative. Her sleep patterns have also changed quite a bit... she is sleeping more than she ever has...

She has also very recently started complaining about feeling weak or tired often, and being slightly more off balance than usual.

Could these be signs of a problem with her shunt? Something else? She is just completely not herself sometimes.

We are seeing her Neurosurgeon Thursday, but I would like some input if anyone has some to share... I am really worried.

[Summer25]

could be shunt or arnold chiari as well.

[joybell322]

definitely sounds like a shunt problem - I would not wait til Thursday. I would even take her to emergency tonight. Lizzie had those exact symptoms in 2003 when her shunt had to be revised. Let us know! I'll be praying.

[Sheena51985]

good luck and we'll be praying!


~Sheena

[LisaJoy]

Let us know how Lily is doing. Hope she is ok!

[Spiffynikki]

I finally managed to get hold of her neurosurgeon on the phone and he said that we could wait until Thursday, gave me a list of things to watch for that would be an emergency, and said we would do a full set of images Thursday. I am just counting the hours until her appt. Thanks for the support.

[Dodger67]

Thats good news!
Lets hope it stays good.

How about sharing the list of symptoms that require an emergency response with us.

[ollieholmes]

Thats good news!
Lets hope it stays good.

How about sharing the list of symptoms that require an emergency response with us.

That would be usefull, could a thread be started with the infomation and made a sticky?

[Summer25]

I finally managed to get hold of her neurosurgeon on the phone and he said that we could wait until Thursday, gave me a list of things to watch for that would be an emergency, and said we would do a full set of images Thursday. I am just counting the hours until her appt. Thanks for the support.

No, if it is a shunt issue, it CANNOT wait!!!! I had a shunt malfunction at 12 that wasn't that bad wasn't even having headaches. The doctor told me to come in monday and he would do surgery, it was the friday before. Well that night I ended up having 2 seizures and another one the next day. Shunt problems do not wait for anyone.

[Spiffynikki]

He said that if she started vomiting, had a seizure, became listless, uncontrollably irritable, or had a severe headache, to bring her to the ER.

Classic signs of shunt failure are (this is off of my little patient care sheet I got a while back)
headache,
nausea
vomiting
irritability
change in behavior or intellectual performance
dizziness
lethary (difficulty waking or staying awake)
double vision (in some cases.)

Signs in an infant are
Enlargement of the baby's head
Fontanelle is full and tense when the infant is upright and quiet
Prominent scalp veins
Swelling along the shunt tract
Vomiting
Irritability
Sleepiness
Downward deviation of the eyes

Signs in a toddler

Head enlargement
Vomiting
Headache
Irritability and/or sleepiness
A loss of previous abilities (sensory or motor function)
Seizures

[Spiffynikki]

Just wanted to give an update... the neurosurgeon doesn't think there is a problem with the shunt. They are scheduling her for a CT series in the next couple of days though just to make sure.

[joybell322]

Just curious - how did the CT scan go?

[Spiffynikki]

We haven't had it yet :(. We are having it the 24th of this month, and the appt to review the scans is April 16th.

We did find out what is going on with her with reading and behavior though, she has stopped crossing her midline physically and visually, though we aren't sure why. We are doing therapy at home and in therapy and at school to address the problem, but it has been affecting all areas of her life, and the outbursts at school are stemming from that frustration.

[bcain]

"crossing midline visually and physically"

Is that she won't look past her waist or something? I'm not familiar with it, please elaborate.

[Spiffynikki]

basically physically it means she isn't using her right hand to reach things on her left side and her left hand to reach on her right side. Visaully she isn't putting the images on each side of her body together correctly, like the word four placed in front of her looks like fo ur.

[Spiffynikki]

Small update. Lily had her CT Tuesday. The images are on a CD and we will see them when the doctor does on the sixteenth of April.

The hospital could no longer access her old images because they changed systems, so all we have to compare with is the report. I am hoping that will be enough.

[sleepyme]

Nikki, hope there's nothing wrong with
your daughter. Goodluck and give us
some more updates, OK? I'll pray for
your daughter.