14 DAY TRIAL // 26-year-old Sam Chaplin is now headaches-free, all thanks to an implant which helps her drink her own brain fluid. More precisely, said implant drains whatever excess brain fluid accumulates in her skull into her stomach.
Since the excess brain fluid was causing her to experience excruciating headaches to begin with, it need not surprise anyone that its being eliminated in this manner from inside her head allowed the 26-year-old woman to go back to enjoying life.
Daily Mail explains that Sam Chaplin suffers with a rare medical condition known to the scientific community as idiopathic intracranial hypertension.
Said medical condition basically comes to down to the fact that her body produces a tad too much spinal fluid, which is later on sent towards the brain and gradually builds up inside her skull. As specialists explain, this was what caused her intracranial pressure to up.
Apart from its pressing on the brain and causing crippling headaches, this increase in intracranial pressure can cause a person to lose their sight.
Furthermore, as was Sam Chaplin's case, the person affected by this medical condition is significantly more likely to suffer a stroke at some point in their lives.
The same source informs us that the implant used to cure the 26-year-old woman is known as a ventricle peritoneal shunt.
Its purpose is that of collecting excess fluid from inside this woman's skull and directing it towards the stomach, where it gets digested.
The surgery that had to be carried out in order to fit Sam Chaplin with this ventricle peritoneal shunt lasted for about four hours, yet Sam says it was well worth it. The surgery was performed in last year's May, and since then, Sam has made a full recovery.
“Before, my life was pretty miserable,’ says Sam. ‘I'd spend my days in bed or lying on the sofa feeling pretty sorry for myself,” Sam told members of the press.
“I finally have my life back and it's fantastic. I'm training for my NVQ in business administration as an apprentice too so everything's looking up,” she later added.
[Update: 15.04.2013] We have been informed that certain details in this article are not true to facts. Therefore, the story is still developing. A new and improved version is expected to soon follow, so keep an eye on this space.
[Update: 16.04.2013] As promised, here are the rectifications needed for the article above.
First off, it need be said that the shunt drains the excess fluid not in Sam Chaplin's stomach, but into her peritoneal cavity. Thus, the fluid does not get digested, but it is naturally reabsorbed by her body.
A shunt is typically used to treat idiopathic intracranial hypertension when drug therapy yields little (if any) benefits, the Intracranial Hypertension Research Foundation explains.
Furthermore, the claim that Sam has been cured of her medical condition as a result of her being fitted with this shunt is an erroneous one.
The drainage of the excess fluid into her peritoneal cavity is not a method of curing the condition, but merely a way of treating it and attempting to keep the pressure inside her skull under control.
A more detailed description of how one such shunt functions is made available to you here. The description targets ventriculoperitoneal shunts, yet other types of shunts can also be used when treating this medical condition.
Note: The link to the Daily Mail in the article above is no longer available, seeing how the agency has pulled its story.