

17-yo Girl Must Digest Brain Fluid Inside Her Belly to Survive - lotusleaf1987
http://gizmodo.com/5653150/17+yo-girl-must-digest-brain-fluid-to-survive

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gdl
It sounds like she needs to just drain the brain fluid _somehow_ \- letting it
overflow into her stomach was just the most convenient way to do so. Not quite
as bizarre as the headline makes it sound.

Here's hoping there's an especially reliable one-way valve on that. If I had a
tube running between my brain and a vat of hydrochloric acid, I'd be rather
paranoid about backflow eating away my soft squishy gray stuff.

edit: re-reading that, it's between her brain and her peritoneal cavity, which
sounds much less scary.

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phren0logy
The fluid does not enter her stomach, it goes into her peritoneal cavity. The
peritoneal cavity is defined by the lining that surrounds your abdominal
organs.

On one hand, this is totally standard, and these get installed every day. It's
still amazing, but not clear to me why this was written up in Gizmodo.

------
benologist
Summary of [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1316205/Teenage-
gi...](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1316205/Teenage-girl-control-
rare-brain-condition-digesting-spinal-fluid.html)

