What Is Hydrocephalus?:

What Is Hydrocephalus?: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrocephalus

Hydrocephalus is a term derived from the Greek words \"hydro\" meaning water, and \"cephalus\" meaning head, and this condition is sometimes known as \"water on the brain\".

People with this condition have abnormal accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the ventricles, or cavities, of the brain.

This may cause increased intracranial pressure inside the skull and progressive enlargement of the head, convulsion, and mental disability.

Hydrocephalus is usually due to blockage of CSF outflow in the ventricles or in the subarachnoid space over the brain.

In a normal healthy person, CSF continuously circulates through the brain and its ventricles and the spinal cord and is continuously drained away into the circulatory system.

In a hydrocephalic situation, the fluid accumulates in the ventricles, and the skull may become enlarged because of the great volume of fluid pressing against the brain and skull.

Alternatively, the condition may result from an overproduction of the CSF fluid, from a congenital malformation blocking normal drainage of the fluid, or from complications of head injuries or infections.[1]

Infants and young children with hydrocephalus typically have abnormally large heads, because the pressure of the fluid causes the individual skull bones — which have not knitted with each other yet — to bulge outward at their juncture points.

Compression of the brain by the accumulating fluid eventually may cause convulsions and mental retardation.

Hydrocephalus occurs in about one out of every 500 live births[2] and was routinely fatal until surgical techniques for shunting the excess fluid out of the central nervous system and into the blood or abdomen were developed.

Usually, hydrocephalus need not cause any intellectual impairment if recognized and properly treated.

A massive degree of hydrocephalus rarely exists in normally functioning people, and such rarity may occur if onset is gradual rather than sudden.[3]

History: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrocephalus#History

Hydrocephalus was first described by the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, but it remained an intractable condition until the 20th century, when shunts and other neurosurgical treatment modalities were developed.

The condition has been often informally referred to as \"water on the brain\".

What is Hydrocephalus?: www.asbah.org/2-87.aspx

The term ‘hydrocephalus' is from two Greek words meaning ‘water in the head'.

In fact, the ‘water' is cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), a clear liquid which is produced all the time in the cavities or ventricles inside the brain.

It passes from one ventricle to the next (four in all) through narrow pathways, then circulates around the surface of the brain - a little also goes down the spinal cord - and is absorbed back into the bloodstream.

The absorption takes place through specialised veins inside the skull which have a sieve-like surface.

Though much slower than the circulation of the blood, the CSF is constantly being produced, circulated and reabsorbed.

Hydrocephalus can result when either too much CSF is produced (very rare), or when it is prevented from circulating or being reabsorbed - the two most common causes.

As in these circumstances CSF is constantly produced but cannot get out, it accumulates and causes raised pressure inside the brain.

The ventricles swell and the brain tissue is stretched and squashed.

The skull bones in babies and young children are not fixed together as they are in later life, and the pressure causes the head to increase in size.

However it is important to realise that hydrocephalus can also arise in older children and in adults, when the skull bones are fixed and the head cannot increase in size.

Introduction: www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/articles/article.aspx?articleId=200

Hydrocephalus is a condition that occurs when there is too much cerebrospinal fluid in the ventricles (cavities) of the brain.

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is produced in the brain, and is needed by the body to protect the brain and spinal cord, and carry away waste from brain cells.

It flows continuously through the ventricles of the brain and over the surface of the brain and spinal cord. Any excess CSF usually drains away from the brain and is absorbed by the body.

For people with hydrocephalus, this doesn't happen, and the fluid instead builds up in the ventricles.

Too much cerebrospinal fluid puts a harmful amount of pressure on tissues in the brain - treatment is needed to release this pressure.

Hydrocephalus can be congenital (present at birth), or develop later in childhood or adulthood. Normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) is a type of hydrocephalus, which usually develops in people over 60, because the drainage of the CSF gradually becomes blocked.

The Hydrocephalus Association: www.hydroassoc.org

Scott_1984 wrote:

The Hydrocephalus Association: www.hydroassoc.org

Association for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus: www.asbah.org

I first started noticing the symptoms separately earlier this year. Thought they were unrelated.
When I started falling at work for no apparent reason. I went in to my doctor and requested an MRI.
No sooner did I get back home after the test than my phone rang. It was my doctor's office saying they had the results of my scan and wanted me to come in first thing in the morning. (knowing that no doctor's office calls that quickly unless there was something wrong, I asked to come in that same day.)
That's when my doctor told me I had Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus. This all happened in April of this year. (2012).
So I am still adjusting to being impaired, lack of balance, occasional bladder loss, and short term memory loss are the most troubling of the symptoms. However,I did not get shunted due to all the issues others have had with being shunted.
Shunts have been around for over 50 years. I myself had never heard of this illness, and I find that no one else has either.
After 50 years of it as a known impairment, everyone should know of it's existence. (BTW, There is also a surgery called Third Ventricle Surgery, but not everyone is a candidate for this, and I am not.)
So, I am trying to make it more well known. I am also waiting for a better treatment or cure, but will get shunted one day if I must.
I was not born with it, have no tumor, was not in an accident, and they do not know the cause of my Hydrocephalus, other than Aquaductal Stenosis. Also, I am only 44, so I am not old enough to have it. Many war vets are returning with it too, maybe this will prompt the government to try harder to find a cure?