CSF Leak Following Bacterial Meningitis - Can I ever fly again?

D

dominguezsex

New member
Will I ever be able to fly in a plane again??

In May I contracted Bacterial Meningitis (BM) which included the following: being placed into a drug induced coma for 5 days, blood poisoning, severe urine infection, and pneumonia plus a whole list of other symptoms and a 4 week hospital stay, apparently it ws touch & go for a while there.
The sypmtoms initially started with a sore ear and flu like symptoms which quickly progressed after my ear drum burst. I was close to going into a coma on my own (which I'm told most people don't come out of) luckily my ever vigilant sister called an ambulance & I was rushed to hospital & quikly placed into the drug induced coma & onto life support.

I have now been left with an everlasting memory - After I came to my ear was leaking quite a lot & the doctors first thought it was the infection coming out through my ear but after 1 week they soon discovered I had developed a Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) leak.. Apparently the BM infection had carved a small hole in my temporal bone & was now allowing CSF to come out into my sinus cavity & out through my burst ear drum.

Which now means that I have a permanent CSF leak into my left ear & the only thing holding the fluid in is my healed ear drum.

My question: Am I able to fly in a plane ever again? What will happen if I do try to fly?

Thanks for listening/reading!

K
 
wow,quite the nightmare for you. a question like this i would think would be best answered by whoever is in charge of your care,or whoever took care of this for you? thats just kind of a scarey iffy question ya know? this is just something you do not want to take chances with. just an FYI here,but if should ever feel or see something drain from your ears or your sinuses and are wondering if this is indeed CSF or just some type of other fluid,there is a way to tell whther or not this is indeed CSF from other possibilities. i worked EMS for many years,and had to check fluid drainage on trauma victims. all you have to do is take like a 2x2 or 4x4 gauze pad,and catch some of that fliud on it? if this IS CSF,it will show a wet spot with like a "halo" type of appearance around it? there is part ofthe CSF that has this oily type of base to it so it will seperate itself eventually(about a minute or so) from the water part and go to the outter edges of the drop. just thought you might like to know that. if unsure,seek help from an ER. always go with the better safe than sorry approach with what you have had to go thru.

with your situation,any real question like this,i seriously would get the answers from the specialist who saw you thru this,they would be able to tell you much better than anyone since they know your specific medical situation. good luck and i do hope everything stays stable for you. FB
 
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