Greg Phillpotts
Johnston County, NC — Greg Phillpotts, a man from North Carolina who suffered from a runny nose for five years, was shocked when he found out that it was actually brain fluid leaking from his nose. Thankfully, it was successfully treated before it became infectious.
“I was preparing a meal and standing in the kitchen and it just added itself to the ingredients — it screwed up the whole dinner,” Phillpotts told ABC News. “You could be anywhere. You could be on the airplane, you could be talking to anybody and this thing just drains out of your face.
Phillpotts, who moved to Johnston County from New York two years ago after his wife’s retirement, is suffering from what he thought as allergies for five years. He already saw different doctors who diagnosed him with pneumonia and bronchitis.
“I was stuffing tissues up my nose,” he said. “It became normal up until February because I was up all night coughing. You’re sitting here, you’re a family man; you don’t want to check out of the picture when it’s something someone could readily fix.”
Finally, Dr. Alfred Iloreta at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York determined it had been leaking cerebrospinal fluid which is the fluid that cushions the brain to protect it from shock or trauma.
“Sometimes when you have this leakage of the fluid from the brain, it can evolve into what we call an ascending infection. So bacteria can travel from the nose to the brain resulting in meningitis,” Dr. Iloreta added.
Phillpotts was successfully treated with a minimally invasive skull surgery using a piece of skin tissue harvested from his body to fix the problem.
“Have you ever been so congested that you can’t breathe? All of sudden you can breathe again and what a relief that was!” Phillpotts joyfully exclaimed.
Dr. Iloreta warned others suffering from a runny nose on one side of the nostril, with a salty taste with it, as well as an intense headache because it could be more than just a runny nose.