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Leaking Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF)

LilacPhonograph

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I found this listed as "Leaked to the press".

'I couldn't believe it was my brain fluid'
May 13 2005
By Paul Rhys, South London Press

WHEN Bina Kaundun's nose started running in October she had no reason to believe it was anything more sinister than a bad cold.

Already struck down with pneumonia, it seemed just another irritating symptom of her poor health.

But nothing could prepare her for the shock when, two months later, doctors revealed the liquid streaming from her nostrils was brain fluid.

It is not known exactly how it happened, but doctors believe the fluid - which acts as a cushion to the brain and spinal cord - began "leaking" after the former nursery teacher violently sneezed or coughed.

The 57-year-old from Peckham, found herself housebound because she couldn't risk making the problem worse by catching a cold.

She was also susceptible to brain diseases, raising the spectre of meningitis.

The death of husband Deo two years ago meant she had to rely on her daughter, Rita, 37, and son, Roddy, 25, who live nearby, to help her cope.

She was unable to cook because bending over made the fluid flow harder, and she had to carry a towel around to mop up after herself.

And she was soon hit by depression her pillow would be soaked in just seconds when she tried to sleep.

Her children had to take extra care not to catch a cold for fear of endangering their mother.

Immigration officer Rita said "We had to make sure we wrapped up really warm and didn't catch a cold.

"The leaking of the fluid wasn't just a drip, it would all come out at once."

Mrs Kaundun had keyhole surgery in April, using muscle extracts to build up a wall between her eyes to stop the flow.

She said: "I was very frightened, because they told me the operation could make me blind. But in the end it was a success and only took 45 minutes instead of three hours. I felt better by that evening."

The operation was carried out by David Roberts of Guy's Hospital, Southwark, and filmed for the BBC's City Hospital.

Rita said: "He was really good. He pretended the fluid was gin.

"At the consultations he would always call my mum 'the woman with the gin problem'."
Source
 
That's probably one of the most disgusting stories I've ever read.

Thanks! :lol:
 
She should consider herself lucky. Some people go all the way to mexico and pay considerable money to have holes drilled in their heads to release the pressure (trephination).
 
Oh great. Now every time I have a runny nose I won't know if it's a cold or brain fluid.
 
RainyOcean said:
Oh great. Now every time I have a runny nose I won't know if it's a cold or brain fluid.

I wouldn't worry about it RainyOcean. The chances of something similar happening to you would be very remote indeed.
 
what if the bogies I've been picking out all these years are actually bits of my brain?

Would explain a lot.
 
The Channel Five Extraordinary People (aka Heartbreaking Stories of People Somehow Surviving Really Terrible Things) last week was called "Girl Without a Face" and featured a girl who had Treacher Collins Syndorm + - the worst case ever documented. She was found to have a hole in the base of her skull through which brain fluid was leaking and that seemed one of the least awful of her problems:

girl without a face: extraordinary people

Monday 2 May 2005

'Born without a Face' tells the story of Juliana Wetmore who was born without a face.

When most parents have a baby, they spend months dreaming about what their bundle of joy will look like. The birth of Juliana Wetmore didn't give them the answers to those questions. She was born without a face.

Little Juliana is missing 30 - 40 percent of the bones in her face. She has no upper jaw, no cheek bones, no eye sockets, and she's missing her ears. Her birth defect is called Treacher Collins Syndrome and doctors say it's the worst case they've ever seen.

Juliana has to eat through her stomach, and she has a trach to breath. Already two years into her life, she's had 15 operations.

Every time she goes to hospital, doctors make a mould of her head, and reconstruct her skull to figure out the next step. It's a life-long process that's draining for Tammy and Tom. Even still, they're thankful and full of love for their sweet child.

---------------------
Treacher Collins Family Support Group
114 Vincent Road
Norwich
NR1 4HH

Treacher Collins Family Support Group offer advice to families and individuals on various aspects of the syndrome and help to develop policy on surgery, hearing aids and genetic counselling for Treacher Collins individuals.

www.treachercollins.net
Tel: 01603 433736
Email: [email protected]

Changing Faces 33 - 37 University Street
London WC1

Changing Faces is a national charity that supports and represents children, adults and families who are living with disfigurements from any cause. www.changingfaces.org.uk
Juliana Wetmore's web site www2.caringbridge.org/fl/juliana

www.five.tv/accessibility/factsheets/gi ... ut_a_face/

I was about this far from crying on a number of occasions: | |

edit: I actually started a thread on this when the news was first announced:

forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19306
Link is obsolete. The current link is:
https://forums.forteana.org/index.p...thout-a-face-treacher-collins-syndrome.19306/
 
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hmm. I've had brown watery fluid coming out of my nose, and terrible head pressure recently. I hope I'm not losing my mind :D
 
An optician I know once told me of a case of a woman who had a stye on one of her eye lashes. (a stye is an infrection of the root of the eyelash not unlike a spot) The woman pulled out the eyelash and the puss in the styye leaked out, this was followed by some clear liquid that would not stop. She was not too worried but dropped down dead about an hour later as it was her brain fluid leaking out!

I think this is a load of guff but the optician who told me swears it's true. I think that someone told her this as a joke but she was to daft to realise!
 
I'm posting this as something of a public service announcement. This same thing happened to a co-worker of mine back in the 1980's. It's not necessarily as dangerous as it sounds, but it can have major ramifications and it can take a long time to determine what's really going on.

Woman's Runny Nose Was Actually Leaking Brain Fluid
At first, doctors just said that a Nebraska woman's runny nose was caused by allergies, plain and simple. But the woman, Kendra Jackson, knew it had to be something else.

In 2013, Jackson was in a car accident, and she hit her face on the dashboard, according to KETV-7 ABC. Several years after that, her symptoms started: an endless runny nose, painful headaches and trouble sleeping.

"[It was] like a waterfall, continuously, and then it would run to the back of my throat," Jackson told KETV-7 ABC.

It wasn't until Jackson saw an ear, nose and throat specialist at Nebraska Medicine in Omaha that she learned her runny nose wasn't from allergies, but in fact cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leaking from her brain. Doctors told Jackson that she was losing about 8 ounces (237 milliliters) of fluid a day. (The brain produces roughly 17 ounces [503 mL] of CSF a day ...)

CSF is a clear liquid that flows between the brain and its outer covering, and between the spinal cord and its outer covering. The fluid cushions the brain and spinal cord, and helps clear waste from the brain. The clear fluid, if it leaks from a nostril or down a person's throat, can have a metallic taste ...

Though brain fluid leaking out of your nose certainly sounds alarming, people may have the condition, known medically as CSF rhinorrhea, for years before serious problems emerge, according to the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai. One such complication is bacterial meningitis, a serious infection that causes inflammation of the meninges, or the lining of the brain and spinal cord. ...

SOIURCE: https://www.livescience.com/62501-leaky-brain-fluid.html
 
I'm posting this as something of a public service announcement. This same thing happened to a co-worker of mine back in the 1980's. It's not necessarily as dangerous as it sounds, but it can have major ramifications and it can take a long time to determine what's really going on.



SOIURCE: https://www.livescience.com/62501-leaky-brain-fluid.html

Yup, I've heard of this before too. May have mentioned it on'ere somewhere in fact. You can have just the runny nose symptom without pain or anything else untoward.

The key sign apparently is that the discharge is straw-coloured. You'd have to be sharp to spot that!
 
I am trying not to go into hypocondriac mode! Quite often I have (this isn't very pleasant to be fair) a strand of mucus from my left nostril in the morning. It is usually grey but will check if its straw coloured. Trots off for a medical dictionary...
 
I am trying not to go into hypocondriac mode! Quite often I have (this isn't very pleasant to be fair) a strand of mucus from my left nostril in the morning. It is usually grey but will check if its straw coloured. Trots off for a medical dictionary...

Based on the experience with my co-worker ... Cerebrospinal fluid isn't thick like mucus; it's quite thin and 'runny'.
 
Thank you for allaying my paranoid brain.
 
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I'm posting this as something of a public service announcement. This same thing happened to a co-worker of mine back in the 1980's. It's not necessarily as dangerous as it sounds, but it can have major ramifications and it can take a long time to determine what's really going on.

George Clooney is probably the most famous sufferer of this condition. He made a full recovery, thankfully.
 
Anyone else noticed this recently?

I've read several stories about people who sneeze a lot and it's actually their brain fluid coming out of their nose.

Sorry can't be arsed googling links. It's up to you guys.
 
I have a runny nose every day (and almost uncontrollable sneezing) if I don't take an allergy tablet. Have done for years, since my nasal problems started. I've concluded that if it were brain fluid I wouldn't have any left by now which I think I'd notice.

:D
 
Couldn't it just be hayfever?
 
Couldn't it just be hayfever?

No. Cerebrospinal fluid is quite distinct from nasal passage / cavity secretions, and there shouldn't be any cross-flow allowing the former to combine with the latter.
 
Read your post in the other thread. Interesting, in that I have had a runny nose and spinal pain for about a year. I also get hayfever. Maybe a chat with the doctor is called for.
 
Read your post in the other thread. Interesting, in that I have had a runny nose and spinal pain for about a year. I also get hayfever. Maybe a chat with the doctor is called for.
Did you follow it up?
 
The pain was spondylosis (?) from an old spinal injury. All that's rather been overtaken by events now :)
Gave that a like because while spondylosis is unpleasant it's not as urgently dangerous as a neglected brain injury.
Still painful though. :(
 
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