My 37 year old daughter has been diagnosed with pseudotumor cerebri in late 2007, after a hospitalization for a bad headache and vomiting for 9 days. That was diagnosed as "meningitis". She was told it was viral and she could go home, as there was nothing they could do. it had to run its course. Over the next year and a half, she saw various physicians, neurologists, neurosurgeons, etc. and was finally diagnosed with Pseudotumor cerebri. Apparently it is not well know, most docs don't know much about it. She had a VP shunt put in on July 9th. She woke up without a headache, and we all celebrated that she was well. She recovered from the surgical pain, only to begin to have the pressure pain in her head again. On August 24th, she again had a VP shunt placed, the old one was removed. The neurosurgeon told us that it had malfunctioned, and it was very unusual. This is now Mayo Clinic that we are dealing with, supposedly the best in the business. Today is September 2. My daughter just called me to say that she was on the way to the ER, apparently the second shunt is malfunctioning!!! They adjusted it in the ER and sent her home. They said she should see some relief in about 2 days. She does have an appointment with her neurosurgeon in two days, so that will be covered. My question is this.... Why is this happening? all of the research I did stated that a VP shunt should last 5 to 10 years, maybe a lifetime. So far her two shunts have each lasted 9 days before malfunctioning. The doc said she is not doing anything to cause this. Has anybody else had a similar experience with a shunt? My daughter is becoming increasingly depressed, despite being on an antidepressant, being sick so long, and now not staying healthy for long.