The Horror

Sometimes I think this thing can't get any worse. Then I learn a new fact about it that just horrifies me.

A few weeks ago I was reading about IH and came across a brief sentence about clear drainage from the nose when your pressure is extremely high. I kind of skipped over it not really paying attention as it had never happened to me. It just popped into my head the other day and I started to think about it more and I realized that the only stuff that could possibly leak out of my nose would be CSF. Then I nearly threw up. So I figured the way to make it less horrifying is to research it because it can't be as terrifying as I am making it out to me.

It was more.

Your brain and spine is surrounded by the meniges. The top most layer of this is called the dura mater. If the CSF pressure gets too high it can cause a rip in the dura mater and CSF will leak out.

But wait, there's more.

The symptoms of this are the same as IH only it is intracranial hypotension, meaning your pressure is actually low because you are leaking CSF. There is one major difference between the two. When you have IH your headache is better when you're standing while with hypotension it is worse. Another tell tale sign would be the clear shit leaking out of your nose and ears.

The best part? Intracranial hypotension is ALWAYS misdiagnosed. It happens just as randomly as IH and it can happen to people without IH. The average patient takes 13 months to get the correct diagnosis and it is incorrectly diagnosed in the emergency room 94% of the time. In one study ER doctors had a 0% accuracy rate. And of course, it is not studied.

I quit.