Talk:Hydrocephalus

Should there be a listing of places for donations in this article in an encyclopedia? --Alex.tan 04:00, 28 Oct 2003 (UTC)

No, there shouldn't. Deleted. Vicki Rosenzweig 04:03, 28 Oct 2003 (UTC)

Treatment vs. "Cure"

While the article mentioned treatment of hydrocephalus per se, it has been thought in the past that treatment=cure. It doesn't, of course. It was thought that after my series of shunt "revisions" in the late 1960's that I was a "normal" person and had no excuse for having problems. It was believed that any problems would go away following a revision. Please understand that this is not the case with a great number of people with hydrocephalus. For myself, I will always have trouble with memory and concentration. A neurosurgeon admitted that nothing can be done for my limited peripheral vision - not even eyeglasses or surgery. In a "time is money" world it is difficult for me to hold a real paying job. My memory capacity is too poor to survive in college or university. I had to struggle considerably to escape high school (it was "expected" of me). Some with hydrocephalus have a harder time than I do. Some will have an easier time that I can only dream of. We're not all alike. But please, don't confuse being "treated" as being "cured". Some people do that and it's very discouraging.

Ûgly (at-sign) frîgΗτεÑŠΤÊÌΝ (dot) ÇΘΜ

Agreed

I would whole-heartedly agree with the statement above, I've had a great many revisions, 42 at the last count, I have however managed to gain an honours degree, but of course, at the final hurdle forgotten a great many details and gained a lower grade than expected. The thing I would like to point out is this, I, like many people with hydrocephalus or indeed any other "unseen" but yet serious disabling conditions, have suffered from ignorance or mistust because of a great many aspects of my condition, particularly memory function, in time I like many other people with these conditions have wondered why, although I continue to be treated in hospital for an incredibly serious condition why I am in some way seen as different and less tolerated than those of more obvious ailments, unfortunatly thus is life, and such the human condition.

Daz darren (at-sign) hotmail (dot) com

Jargon

As a layman (albeit an erudite one), this article wasn't the easiest to understand. For one thing, whoever wrote it didn't seem to think that it was important to very quickly state the symptoms of this disease, which he or she or they only slipped into "Clinical Presentation." For this very reason, I think that the symptoms should have their own section, split away from "Clinical Presentation." Otherwise, this article is only good for medical-school students. Perhaps I am the first non-medical-school enrollee to have read this article; I only looked it up because I had read that author Roald Dahl's son had it, and I wanted to know exactly what this disease was. Consider making this article more "accessible" to laymen. I understand "intercranial pressure" and all that, but people will want somewhat simpler terms and will want to know sooner in the article what the symptoms are.66.214.230.155 19:43, 15 January 2006 (UTC)

I agree, but not everyone agrees with me. JFW | T@lk 13:22, 16 January 2006 (UTC)

I agree; I came to this page specifically to make a comment in line with the above. I came here looking for information and had to struggle through lots of very dense text to figure out which parts contained the info I wanted to know.

I don't mind so much if articles on more esoteric, theoretical subjects, such as my own avocation, linguistics, go a little heavier into the jargon; if you find yourself wanting to know about agglutinative languages, you've dug your own grave. But health topics, it seems to me, need to be more accessible to a wider audience, because they are very relevant to family, friends, etc., of the afflicted. --Rschmertz 03:22, 30 March 2006 (UTC)

Picture

I found this really pretty interesting picture of a full skeleton of a hydrocephalic man from the early 20th century (at Image:Hydrocephalic_skeleton.jpg), but I hesitate to add it to the article because the skeleton itself looks somewhat odd (the torso, in particular, seems highly distorted). I'm worried that it wouldn't be representative, but I admittedly know next to nothing about the illness. Does anyone else think it has value in the article? --Fastfission 16:34, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

From the Greek

As someone with hydrocephalus, I was always told that the term was from the Greek for water on the brain, as opposed to the article's phrasing, "water head". Am I just the recepient of a sloppy translation, or is the article's version poorly done? -Fsotrain09 01:21, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

Roughly translated

Yes, it does mean "Water Head", or rather "Water Brain", bare in mind the greek knowledge of the skull head and the brain were all mixed up into one, but effectivly yeah, Hydro-water Cephalus-Head/brain