Doctors were shocked to see what was really dripping from this man's nose

It's definitely not uncommon to catch a cold—especially in the fall and winter months of the year. But for a man from the United States, his 'harmless cold'— which lasted a whopping five years—turned out to be a real horrible diagnosis.

ABC11 covered the story extensively in 2018 and it shocked netizens all around the world.

Suffering from a cold for five years

Greg Phillpotts, from New York, has been struggling with an annoying cold for five years. He was sniffling all the time and constantly had a runny nose. He said that it even ruined a thanksgiving dinner for him, as quoted by the publication:

I was preparing a meal and standing in the kitchen and it just added itself to the ingredients -- it screwed up the whole dinner

At first the doctors thought it was a by-product of his allergies, some even diagnosed him with pneumonia and bronchitis. But the reality was completely different.

Phillpotts consulted with several doctors to get to the bottom of his chronic cold who eliminated allergies as the cause. He was left dumbfounded when one day he had to rush to the hospital because he could barely breathe and couldn't sleep. 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.

Read more:

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Leakage of cerebral fluid

The man finally received a diagnosis from Dr. Alfred Iloreta from Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. He said his 'cold' was actually cerebral fluid that kept running out of his nose! The physician explains that the leakage of cerebral fluid is the first warning sign of an ascending infection. It's now easy for bacteria to penetrate the brain from the nose and trigger a potentially life-threatening meningitis. Dr. Alfred Iloreta said:

It's the leakage of fluid that surrounds the brain to cushion it primarily to protect it from shock or trauma or anything like that.

Luckily the doctors were able to correct the problem with a minor surgery.

Read more: 'Baby giant': Doctors shocked after woman delivers the ‘largest baby’ they’ve ever seen

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ABC11: Johnston County man's runny nose turns out to be leaking brain fluid