What is hydrocephalus?

I thought I had explained this in an earlier post, but as I scanned back through I couldn't see it.

Everyone has pockets of fluid in their brain, if you didn't you would knock yourself out with the slightest bump on your noggin'.

If you have excess fluid, then you have a condition called hydrocephalus. It used to be called "water on the brain".

The reason's for hydrocephalus can be either that your brain produces too much fluid or that it can't drain it fast enough. Think of a sink with the faucet on. The tap can be up too high and the drain can't drain it, or the drain might be small or plugged and can't drain it. Either way, you get a build-up of fluid.

Now, sometimes when a child has hydrocephalus the brain and skull just expand, allowing for the pockets of fluid to expand also. In this case their is usually no brain damage or pressure to the brain. If the brain and skull don't expand, then the fluid has a limited area. It is like a water balloon. when you just have a little water in the balloon, the edges are floppy. But once you fill the balloon up and it is ready to pop, the edges are very smooth. So on the brain scans, if the edges of the fluid pockets are smooth, then there is a lot of pressure.

When there is a lot of pressure, then they place a shunt. (which I described a few posts ago).

Some of the signs of pressure are irritability, headaches, blurred vision, sleepiness.