Home / Health / Headaches Vanish: Brain Sag Mystery Solved
Headaches Vanish: Brain Sag Mystery Solved
2 Oct
Summary
- Headaches began abruptly in early 2025 with severe pain upon standing.
- A rare condition called brain sag, caused by spinal fluid loss, was diagnosed.
- A specialized procedure successfully sealed a spinal fluid leak, relieving pain.
In early 2025, a 62-year-old woman began experiencing severe headaches upon waking. The pain, localized to the right side of her head, neck, and face, was unresponsive to common pain relievers. Her primary care provider, noting the unusual onset at her age and her mother's history of a brain aneurysm, initiated investigations.
Initial tests, including a head CT, were normal. Despite new glasses and glare reduction at work, the headaches persisted. A referral to a neurosurgeon led to further imaging: an MRI and CT scan of her brain's blood vessels. These revealed no aneurysm but a concerning condition known as brain sag.
Brain sag, explained Dr. Mohammed Abdulrazzak at the Cleveland Clinic, occurs when reduced spinal fluid causes the brain to droop. This downward pull exacerbates pain when upright, easing when lying down. The patient's symptoms were classic for this postural headache.
A myelogram test to find the spinal fluid leak was inconclusive, but a more advanced study later pinpointed a leak in a small vein near the 10th thoracic vertebra. In a subsequent procedure, doctors sealed the leaky vein.
While she experienced a temporary headache post-procedure, her symptoms soon resolved. The headaches disappeared, her memory improved, and she was able to resume her normal activities, marking a full recovery from her debilitating condition.
