A Nebraska woman thought that her relentlessly runny nose was just the annoying consequence of chronic allergies, but it turned out to be leaking brain fluid.
For five years, Kendra Jackson’s unending nasal drip and headaches kept her form working, playing with her nine grandchildren and cooking.
Some sleepless nights, she even contemplated suicide.
Countless doctors told her the same thing: it was just allergies.
On the brink of madness, Kendra knew her incessantly running nose had to be something more.
Finally, a doctor at Nebraska Medicine became the first to test the fluid, discover that it was leaking from her brain, and a few weeks ago a minor surgery repaired the leak that was ruining Kendra’s life.
Kendra Jackson, 52, said the half pint of fluid that was leaking from her nose daily nearly drove her to suicide as doctors dismissed what was really brain fluid as allergies
A brain fluid leak sounds dramatic and serious, but the condition often goes undiagnosed because its symptoms are so common.
A runny nose sounds innocent enough, but for Kendra it was so constant, and such a ‘waterfall’ of fluid that ‘I was driving myself crazy, I was driving my kids crazy…I had contemplated suicide several times,’ she says.
She lost her ability to smell and instead lived with a constant taste of salt lingering at the back of her throat.
That should have been a doctor’s first clue, but none of the countless allergists Kendra saw thought to test the fluid to see if it had come from her brain.
Cerebrospinal suspends the brain inside the skull, keeping it in an ideal position so that it does handle any pressure from pushing against bone.
If that fluid starts to drain from around the brain, it can droop, pressing against its harder surroundings and causing headaches.
For Kendra, it wasn’t so much pain as the incessant dropping of her nose that was interfering with her life.
When Kendra hit her head on the dashboard, the trauma probably led to a tear in the membrane surround her brain, allowing fluid to escape.
Kendra, now 52, suffered a broken shoulder, and has been plagued with migraines and a relentlessly runny nose ever since.
Her nose started running almost immediately following the accident, but two-and-a-half years ago, the pace really picked up.
After countless doctors failed to diagnose Kendra, Dr Christine Barnes (right) tested the leaking liquid and found that it was cerebrospinal fluid leaking from a membrane hole
