Mother, 35, almost dies after brain fluid pours from her nose for four MONTHS... as doctors insisted it was 'allergies'

Aundrea Aragon was sent home with nasal sprays in Tucson, Arizona



The mother-of-three had cracks in sphenoid sinus and could have died



A mother-of-three is lucky to be alive after doctors failed to diagnose that the clear liquid streaming from her nose was a brain fluid leak.



Aundrea Aragon, 35, made several trips to her doctor over a four-month period but was sent home with nasal sprays after being told it was simply allergies.

Mrs Aragon finally discovered something was seriously wrong last month after being forced to go to the emergency room with liquid pouring from her nose. She was diagnosed with a cerebrospinal fluid leak from two cracks in the back of her sphenoid sinus, a potentially fatal condition.

Rare condition: Aundrea Aragon, 35, almost died after having brain fluid leak from her nose for four months

Support network: Mrs Aragon, pictured with her husband Anthony and three children Art, 16, Marc, 10, and nine-year-old Reina is expected to recover fully from her surgery

She had surgery at the University of Arizona Medical Center in Tucson to correct the condition which is extremely rare - affecting only one in 100,000 people.



The condition can be fatal due to the high risk of infections like meningitis rather than from the loss of brain fluid which the body constantly produces.

Mrs Aragon told ABC : ' If I looked down or bent over, it would literally pour out of the left side of my nose. I had no control at all.'

The 35-year-old said that she was forced to walk around with paper towels shoved up her nose to stop the stream of liquid. She said that she would wake up at night choking on fluid.

However she did not question the doctor's diagnosis because she also suffers from fibromyalgia and was too busy caring for her three children.

Mrs Aragon has two sons Art, 16, ten-year-old Marc and a daughter Reina, nine, who has autism.



Support: Mrs Aragon, pictured with her husband, is lucky to be alive after undergoing a new procedure to stop her leaking brain fluid

Life-saving: The 35-year-old mother of three underwent surgery at the University of Arizona Medical Center to correct the cracks in her sinus

When the nasal spray did not work on Mrs Aragon, she went to the emergency room last month. She said doctors were shocked by the volume of liquid that was coming out of her nose.



SILENT KILLER OR THE WINTER SNIFFLES? WARNING SIGNS OF A CEREBROSPINAL FLUID LEAK

A spontaneous cerebrospinal fluid leak syndrome causes the colorless and odorless substance to stream from the nose for no apparent reason. It is caused by a hole in the dura mater (pictured below) - tissue surrounding the brain and spinal cord.

Symptoms can include, headaches and blurry vision, feeling dizzy, nausea, extreme tiredness and a metallic taste in the mouth. Tinnitus, tingling in arms and legs and weakness of facial muscles are other signs.

The condition is rare - affecting one in every 100,000 people. It is most common around the age of 42 and women are twice as susceptible.



She was referred to an ear, nose and throat specialist who diagnosed the condition.



A cerebrospinal fluid leak is more common in overweight patients with high cranial pressure or those who have suffered head trauma from an accident.

The surgeons at Arizona Medical Center have developed a new procedure to repair cracks which cause the brain leak by going up the patient's nose instead of opening their skull, which is highly risky.



Firstly, dye is injected into the patient which shows up where exactly the cracks are by turning the colorless brain fluid green.



A team of surgeons use an endoscopic method to reach the sinus via the nostril and graft skin, taken from belly fat, over the cracks.

The two-hour surgery has a 95-99 per cent success rate and should protect Mrs Aragon for the rest of her life.



However she will be tested several times a year to make sure she does not have another leak.



Mrs Aragon said she was grateful to the surgeons and that the procedure did not interfere with her religion as a Jehovah's Witness as no blood products were used.

