Woman bedbound after exercise led to brain leak
WHEN Diane McCracken began suffering with minor disc troubles in her spine, she was advised to carry out some basic physiotherapy at home.
But during one neck-stretching exercise, her vertebrae “buckled”, causing her immediate pain and a terrible ringing in her ears.
After two months in unbearable agony, doctors discovered that the fluid surrounding her spinal cord and brain was leaking into other parts of her body.
Since May, the 51-year-old has been confined to her bedroom and is barely able to move.
“If I stand or sit up, it feels like an elephant is standing on my brain,” said Diane.
“The headaches are unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. When I lie down they mostly go away, but there’s still a terrific sense of pressure and tugging.
“My nose always feels like it’s congested, my eyes are often burning and my teeth are aching. My mind is never clear. I always feel like I’m very much in a fog, and I don’t sleep well at all, which is probably down to the condition, too.”
Diane, who is a qualified accountant, said she was physically fit before her injury and would go running at least four days a week with her husband.
But all that changed following the freak incident last March.
“When I did it I immediately had pain going up the middle of my head and had a severe screeching sound,” she recalled. “I felt a strange tingling all over my body. At the time it did worry me, but I thought I’d probably done something structural.
“It took me two months to get the diagnosis from a neurologist to realise that it wasn’t structural and there was no damage to any bones or tissue.”
The cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak, was caused by a tear in her dura mater – a thick membrane that covers and protects the brain and spine. It can cause the brain to “sink” to the bottom of the skull and lead to severe headaches, nausea and cognitive issues.
Now the only thing Diane, who lives near Pontypridd, says she is able to do is walk the “four steps” to the bathroom and back.
“From March to May, I was up and still doing things. But over time I found myself, as the days wore on, needing to lie down more and more often,” she said. “By May, I just felt I couldn’t get up anymore and now I literally cannot move my head off the pillow.
“I can go to the toilet but I have to limit the amount of times I do that each day.”
While Diane said her condition is “entirely treatable”, she will require specialist care either in the UK or abroad.
Diane, who is originally from Florida, USA, has already been to London to get some care for her debilitating condition.
“Covid-19 has also made everything much harder,” she admitted.
“Taking private ambulances has cost a few thousand each time – and I’ve done that three times.
“I think, in the right hands, I can be treated for this. It is entirely treatable.”
She has now set up a GoFundMe page in a bid to raise the money she may need for private treatment.