In November 2005 i was rushed into hospital by my gp, after a went to see him with chronic headaches. After being in hospital for 5 days and undergoing an MRI, CT scan and numerous eye tests with the word papilledema being muttered about ten times a day but no body actually telling me what was going on i finally met my neurologist who explained that he suspected that i had this rear condition called benign intracranial hypertension which effected 1 in every100,000 over weight women of child bearing age he said he wanted me to try to loose some weight before he had to resort to a lumbar puncture (i was 18st) he said i should be OK as long as i got down to 15st so armed with the max dose of co-codamol and diclofenac i got the gym on prescription and started to work out every day and gained another 3lb i went to the gap who sent me for blood tests and found out i had an under active thyroid. so began treatment for that to the pounds started to fall off my dietitian wanted to know my secret (to be honest i was so ('') with the BIH i couldn't eat more then a child's size portion without being violently ill), after 3 month of this i had lost a st .i went for my 3 month follow up appointment with my nero only to find my case had been passed on to one of his registrars. the reg then told me i was no longer to take the co-codamol as prolonged use of co-codamol can actually cause a chronic headache fantastic i had no way of controlling the pain and what they had given me for it could be making it worse then he tell me that i should not be in this much pain after loosing a st my swelling had reduced considerably and decided i was on my own he sent a letter to my GP telling him that he was concerned that if i continue taking pain relief then i may become drug dependent. my GP and i talked about different pain killers and we found that ponstan seemed to work best for me compared to all others. so i continued on my journey alone and in may 2007 i was 16st and ready to start a new job at The O2 Arena when it opened in the June by July i was 13st and symptom free life was good again i didn't look back. never expected it to still be there weighting to jump out at me.

so symptom free from July 2007. I met my boyfriend in April 2008 and slowly i went from 13st in 2008 to 15st5lb in 2010 and in Oct 2010 i started to hear this odd whooshing noise in my ears (which i ignored) then i fainted at work 2 days in a row on the third day mum took me to the ER they told me to go to the opthamologist they in turn told me to get my gp to refer me to a neurologist i went to a new neuro and he started me on diamox and i am now on both diamox and topamax and i had my first lumbar puncture 2 weeks ago and am feeling not perfect but better then October or even 2 weeks ago

Hi Nikki and a cery warm to the group. I'm sure it has been very frustrating having to go through all that, to achieve remission for a short while to them landing back where you started. At least now you are having the right treatment and know what it isi you've got.

Hopefully as your body gets used to the Diamox, you should start to feel a lot better, and should be able to continue with s fairly decent quality of life and to be and able to work and socialise.

I look forward to reading your posts and getting to know you better, and of course to see how you're getting on.

Hey Nicky,

I am glad to hear you're feeling better, your story sounds frustrating and i wish you all the best.Welcome and
Take care
Krissy

both of you for welcoming me in to your community

Nicky,
I'm glad ur feeling a little better than u were. I hope that the medications and the lp can keep the pressure down and keep the pain at a tolerable level. Do lumbar pun normally help with ur pain & if so for how long?
I will keep you in my thoughts.

Take care,
Melissa

that was my first lp so here's hoping the symptoms are creeping back but very slowly when i had the lp don the dr said it could last 2 weeks or 2 years it is individual to every patient.
and i you.

nicky

They can be very successful and I would sometimes go quite a while between them, and that was over 12 years, I idd also manage remission for a while. So never say never .