What happened to Texas mom Yadira Rostro is something out of our worst nightmares.
The 31-year-old from Garland, Texas started suffering from terrible headaches two years after a trip to Mexico.
The headaches were so debilitating that they were impairing her sight. And like so many moms, she endured the pain for nine months until it was too much to bear.
“Sometimes my sight was impaired… I could not see properly,” Rostro said according to Daily Mail.
Doctors thought she might have a brain tumor so they ordered CT scans.
That test found an abnormality so MRI scans were done. But when doctors examined her, they found that she was suffering from a horrifying condition.
She had tapeworms living inside of her and they were burrowing into her brain.
A condition known as neurocysticercosis.
Doctors found sacs of tapeworm larvae from eight different tapeworm eggs that were growing.
“We did an incision at the base of the skull removing part of her skull, splitting the cerebellum and right then could see the sacs at the base of the brain stem,” neurosurgeon, Dr. Richard Meyrat told the Houston Chronicle.
The worm eggs were found in the fourth ventricle behind the brain stem.
“She was sedated face down and we did an incision at the base of the skull removing part of her skull, splitting the cerebellum, and right then could see the sacs at the base of the brain stem,” Meyrat said.
Thankfully, doctors were able to successfully remove the parasites under a microscope.
“They looked a little bit like eggs and they have a clear sac. And inside it, a small tapeworm,” Meyrat said.
Rostro is expected to make a full recovery and her headaches are gone.
“It shocked me; it was certainly out of the ordinary, something I had not seen in a very long time, but I’m glad we got to her in time and could save her life,” said Mehyrat. “The patient is doing very well and should not have any long-term effects from this.”
Doctors believe she was infected with the tapeworms after eating food contaminated with fecal matter while she was in Mexico.
Often times the parasites will pass through a human, but that didn’t happen with Rostro.
They ended up invading her bloodstream and traveling to her brain.
Once the eggs started developing it caused fluid to accumulate in her brain which is what caused her headaches.
“I think she’s just happy to be alive,” said Meyrat.
Learn more about this very scary story in the video below.
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