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| I have been practicing for six years and all that time doing inversions. My doctors warned me this could cause me some serious trouble but I blithely ignored them.
Recently I was talking to a massage therapist about my ventro parietal shunt (small pump implanted in skull, tube runs from it down my neck, over collarbone and allong ribcage to empty into abdominal cavity. It is designed to relieve pressure in my skull. I don't think that I need it right now, ie no pressure in cranium. The doctors told me not to invert my torso as gunk could go up the tube and block it. Tumors may return some day and thus make it useful again.)
As I explained to the massage therapist about this he said he was surprised that I could move around freely, I told him about yoga and inversions and the look of horror on his face gave me a wake up call. Gravity. I may not believe in the reality of many things in our culture but I do have honest faith in gravity.
So I feel that it is right and am really trying not to do inversions, or basically getting my hips higher than my head. Easier said than done. I tried telling a teacher that the other day and I don't think she understood the nature of the beast. (You could call me seven of nine) and suggested that I speak to some Iyengar teachers.
I would LOVE some reason to justify continuing to do inversions  . I was finally getting better at shoulderstand!
Perhaps it is more an ego thing. Acceptance of limits.
Any thoughts?
Lavteal |
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| Please explain again what the original problem or situation was, and then what was done in terrms of implantation, etc. etc. I mean the whole story until today.
Neel kulkarni
www.authenticyoga.org |
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| ok I am hypotheising here...
Do you mean a ventriculo-peritoneal shunt ? I am guessing this is how it works - when pressure in side cranium becomes excessivey high CSF gets drain into the peritoneum. Pressure inside cranium can possibly increase during inversions because more venous blood returns to head so more blood volume in head. Hard for shunt to work because it will then be against gravity.
I am surprised you are talking to your massage therapist about this. I kinda get the feel that you aren't too keen on 'western' medicine but maybe you should be speaking to your neurosurgeon who actually put the shunt in ? And also speak to your yoga teacher ? Also six years of yoga only doing inversions sound somewhat unbalanced to me, unless you have been prescribed this regimen by a yoga therapist. |
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| My poor writing skills have led to some confusion. No I have not been doing only inversions.
As Neel requests here is the story.
In early spring of 1998 when I returned to Canada after a long absence I began having trouble with my eyesight. I saw an optometrist who figured out that I now had double vision. He got me to see a specialist. In July, when I finally got to see the specialist the very same day he sent me to the hospital for an emergency CT scan. It turned out that I had a four cm tumor in the pineal region. (It wasn't until much later that the location of the tumor took on any significance for me, and my prior one on the thyroid).
I was admitted to hospital immediately and surgery was performed two or three days later. My neuro surgeon then went on holiday leaving me in the care of another doctor. Post surgery I was hallucinating and semi conscious for more than a week during which the stand in doctor ordered more CT scans , saw that pressure was building up and did nothing. Finally my mother collaborated with the nurses to go over his head and I was in surgery that afternoon to have the (you are correct bomber pig) ventriculo peritoneal shunt put in. It is a very small pump resting under my skin on the back right side of my skull, the tube runs from the pump down my neck, over collarbone and along down the ribcage to empty into my abdominal cavity. After the shunt was put in, pressure was relieved and I became lucid again.
The biopsy of the tumor that had been removed showed malignant melanoma. Most strangely my primary was in the brain and not on the skin. A few weeks after becoming properly conscious, though by no means my former self, I was sent to rehab where after only a day it became evident that I was worsening. Vomiting owing to pressure build up. Another scan showed that I had two new tumors. Statistics showed that I likely had a few weeks to a few months to live and I was given a few radiation sessions to make me more comfortable to the end.
For a few months I was utterly miserable and messed up (now credit the crying jags with a necessary release of negativity) and then I started doing yoga and meditating and swimming laps using creative visualization. By spring when I had an MRI scan the doctors were very surprised. They had not expected the radiation to have such a powerful effect. (Mortal fools!) 
I still had a tumor but no more had appeared.
It was my General Practicionar (family doctor) who talked to my neurosurgeon about doing inversions and I was told not to do it because the tube of the shunt could become blocked by something entering the end of it in the peritoneum. Inversions could cause gunk in my gut to enter and block the tube. There is the possibility that the cancer will return and I will need to have that tube clear to relieve pressure in the cranium.
For a couple of years I lived in a very small and isolated place in the rainforest and was the only person there doing yoga. I worked from Erich Schiffmans' book 'The Spirit and Practice of Moving into Stillness'. (his descriptions of the principles of movement are really wonderful and resonated with me).
I now live in a city with heaps of places to do yoga but only attend classes for short stretches of time, as the budget allows and my stamina for going out of the house.
I saw a massage therapist who does visceral manipulation which was why I had to tell him about the shunt. I wasn't asking his advice, just informing him. As I previously related "he said he was surprised that I could move around freely, I told him about yoga and inversions" He looked absolutely horrified for just a moment but held his tongue. His look haunted me for a few days and I now feel much more strongly about omitting inversions. Previously when I would consider it I could never commit and was again down dogging etc. very soon.
I haven't spoken to the neurosurgeons again because they are fairly inaccessible. As you guessed I am not a big fan of western medicene any longer and have not tried very hard after my first few calls went unanswered. The way our system works you need a referral from your general practitioner to even look sideways at a specialist.
Not that I'm complaining! There is a shortage of specialists in this neck of the woods. Last year I saw the opthmalogist who initially sent me for the scan about correcting my still wandering eye and I chose not to deal with the medical industrial machinery anymore. He was a jerk and treated me as a file and not a human being.
I know that inversions have great benefits but my motivation for doing them is questionable. Perhaps I am just looking for the sense of achievement. My ego demands that I perform like normal people. Well I am no longer normal and I better get used to it.
L
Edited by lavteal 2005-02-20 9:57 AM
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| The doubled vision causes me to suppress the sight on one side. I slightly tighten the muscles, squeezing the eyeball and causing a chain reaction down into my left shoulder. The shunt is taut over my right collarbone and causes me to constantly push that shoulder forward. To properly align my shoulders in a pose I need to focus not only on my breath but on the periphereal vision in both eyes. 
For the first couple of years I practiced with my eyes closed but now find it helpful to keep them open as ensuring that I use both eyes distorts my vision and the longer I can hold that the better the alignment of my shoulders.
I had the situation with the shunt checked out a few years ago with a scan and ultrasound and they couldn't find anything wrong. It is worsening lately though and I may need to see a doctor about it soon.
Another reason that I have attended class irregularly, besides the expense, is that I have not yet found a teacher that really fit.
There are many more here to check out though . . .
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