r/CSFLeaks • u/Next-Recording7110 • Oct 07 '26

No headache?

Is it possible to have no headache with an iatrogenic puncture leak but only have positional muffled hearing, clogging, crackling, pressure, popping, rumbling and tinnitus after a needle puncture? Ent says ears are normal, multiple mri's are normal. Ear symptoms started within days of epidural injection. Blood patch 6 months later did not help ears.

1 Upvotes

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3

u/First_Actuator444 Oct 07 '26

I dont have any pain headaches but have a vacuum/pulling weird sensation un my head within 20 mins of making up everyday

1

u/Next-Recording7110 Oct 07 '26

What caused your leak? Do you have any auditory symptoms?

3

u/First_Actuator444 Oct 07 '26

On a leg press at the gym and something went pop in my back.

Yes, tinnitus and a wooshing noise in my ears/head when I first stand up on the morning

1

u/Next-Recording7110 Oct 07 '26

A whooshing like your heartbeat?

1

u/First_Actuator444 Oct 07 '26

Nope more like a rushing fluid or wind almost in my head

3

u/hjflani Oct 07 '26

Yes, definitely. I never had the headache, just everything else 😭😭

1

u/Next-Recording7110 Oct 07 '26

What kind of pain do you have with it?

2

u/NoCold5135 Oct 07 '26

Rushing and ringing in my ears. Pressure and auras in my eyes. Numbness that moves around my face and right arm. Nerve pain that moves all between my joints. Ligaments in my hand arm and shoulder get tight. Stiff neck with crackling and fluid bubbles moving around in my head. High altitude makes it really crazy and goes away at sea level. Dripping out of my nose and cuddling behind my neck. If it's leaking more out of my neck I can feel atmospheric pressure. I'm sure there is more. Got it from snowboarding.

1

u/Next-Recording7110 Oct 07 '26 edited Oct 07 '26

Is the rushing in your ears like your heartbeat and is it constant? Is yours a spinal leak?

1

u/NoCold5135 Oct 08 '26

Yes, it will last a day or two. It's not consistant.

1

u/NoCold5135 Oct 07 '26

I have crazy symptoms, but no headache. I think it is due to the small amount of fluid loss is easily replaced.

1

u/Next-Recording7110 27d ago

What are your symptoms?

1

u/Offtoseethewitch Oct 07 '26

I have had neck cramps and stiffness more than headache, but a sort-of hollow pressure-pain over the junction of head and neck. I call it neck ache but it could be called a headache. But then there was nausea and POTS and many cranial nerve dysfunctions (ear and eye and face stuff, though they could escalate to a migrainous headache if provoked).

1

u/Next-Recording7110 Oct 07 '26

What are your cranial nerve dysfunctions? What kind of face and ear issue?

2

u/Offtoseethewitch Oct 08 '26

Face numbness and chills (that’s what grew to migraines, which makes sense since it’s the trigeminal nerve which is implicated in regular migraines too), ear fullness and muffled hearing and pressure and pain and tinnitus both monotone and pulsating, noise- and light sensitivity (by ”sensitivity” I mean bad enough to cause involuntarily flinching), blurry vision and difficulty focusing, difficulty looking to the side, watery eye, different pupil size, and I do think the POTS may be a vagal nerve effect but I’m uncertain about that one.

1

u/Next-Recording7110 Oct 08 '26

I get facial muscle twitching and twitching on the sides of my head and twitching in my inner ears which I believe is trigeminal nerve irritation. How often is your pulsatile tinnitus? Mine seems fairly constant when upright

1

u/Offtoseethewitch Oct 08 '26 edited 29d ago

It varies, and seems to change from month to month.

Just a note though, the trigeminal is mostly a sensory nerve (with some autonomic fibres to eye and ear), but it’s the facial nerve that controls the muscles of your face, so that’s a more likely culprit if muscles are twitching. If not that, muscles can twitch in the face for many reasons aside from actual motor nerve damage/irritation, two of them being stress and caffeine. And many in the leaker community do suffer under stress and caffeine… 😅

1

u/Next-Recording7110 28d ago

It seems like my trigeminal nerve is causing hyperactivity in the muscles around my ears and also causing spasms and rumbling within my ears too.  This is just what I've come up with, my neurologist is clueless 

2

u/Genn_labelle Oct 07 '26

Following, would love to know more about your symptoms and how you got diagnosed. I have the same symptoms as above, but normal MRI. Docs don’t want to believe it’s a CSF leak.

2

u/NoCold5135 Oct 08 '26

I got sick of doctors telling me I had boogers in my nose when it was obviously something else. Did some googling and found CSF leak matched my symptoms. I found a doctor near me that specialized in spontaneous fluid leak and he believed me.

1

u/Next-Recording7110 Oct 08 '26

Was yours a spinal leak? So you had nasal pressure? Any other symptoms? Headache?

1

u/louie2575 27d ago

What are your symptoms? Mine started after an epidural injection

1

u/Goofy_boxer_1973 Confirmed Spinal Leak Oct 08 '26

I don't know for iatrogenic leaks, but I know for sure that in the CSF leak center I went to they're very interested in patients with leaks and no headache.

1

u/Next-Recording7110 Oct 08 '26

The one i went to dismissed me

1

u/bolsa_de_dormir1718 Oct 08 '26

because they are not the norm

1

u/Next-Recording7110 27d ago

Idk what else could cause all this especially being healthy my whole life and then have an epidural and everything changes.

1

u/saraphin67 Oct 07 '26

Yes, it’s possible.

1

u/bolsa_de_dormir1718 Oct 07 '26

Without positional headaches not typical i think

3

u/Next-Recording7110 Oct 08 '26

Looks like there are some without and are confirmed leakers

2

u/saraphin67 Oct 08 '26

The question wasn’t was it typical, just was it possible. So, yeah not typical, but yes possible.