I'm going to the NS for the 1st time this afternoon, and I decided to take along a list of my symptoms. It took me 4 days to compile all of these, because I can't remember anything!! I think it's done finally! The list that someone has put up on this site really helped me figure some of them out, too. I highly recommend it!
Here goes!
These are the symptoms that I have everyday:
Memory problems/loss for words
Back, neck, and shoulder pain
Dizziness/ feeling faint when standing
Loss of balance
Headaches and migraines daily (Electrical shock headaches, Pain on one side, mostly on right side, occasionally left, usually constant pain with intermittant changes)
Pressure in head
Cracking joints in back and neck
Hyper-sensitivity to light, noise, and smells
Fatigue
All over body pain
These are the symptoms that I have occasionally:
Trouble sleeping
Ringing in my ears
Tingling in head and extremities
Trouble starting to urinate
Nausea
Itching where I can't find the source, or intense inchiness on one side of body
Shaking legs when sitting
Twitching legs and arms when resting
Feeling faint
Trouble breathing
Heart racing or strange beating
Dyslexia
Spotting & loss of vision, tunnel vision
Cold hands and feet
Twitchy eyes when reading something up close
Slurred speech
Panic attacks with no stresses
Hopefully I'm not forgetting anything important. Maybe this can help someone else, too!
Thank you Beeba! I was wondering about that too!!
your list looks very similar to mine....... i hope your NS will give you the time to discuss the symptoms. I've seen 1 NL and 2 NS and none would allow me to talk about my symptoms...... they just looked at test results and came to their own conclusions (which were not expert opinions as none specialize in Chiari).
How about personality changes, easily agitated???
I went and saw Dr. David Eng in Syracuse, NY yesterday. He was actually very well informed about Chiari, thank God! He spent at least 15 minutes with me going over my symptoms and asking me questions. I made sure to bring a list of all of them with me. He looked at it too, as well as his nurse and his physician assistant. . He didn't just blow me off. He checked my MRI's (brain, cervical, and lumbar) to see if I had tethered cord, which he couldn't find. Then he ordered a thoracic MRI to make sure there wasn't anything else that we're missing. He also is referring me to a NL to see if they can do some more in-depth tests and treatments of my symptoms. Once I do that, I will go back and see him again.
My personality changes are mostly affected by the pain and symptoms that i have to deal with on an everyday basis, I think. I have already had depression and anxiety for most of my life. So, that's nothing new. I have been working really hard to not be snippy and cranky to those around me. For the most part, I don't really leave the house much. When I do have to go to a family event or whatever, I don't usually stay very long, and my symptoms get a lot worse because of it.
The NS noticed my hyper-sensitivity to everything. My reflexes were really high. They turned the lights off and on to check my eyes and saw how it really bothered me. I was glad that they were at least able to see that. So many of my symptoms are totally random. Some of them are always there. So, when they did some of the other tests, they couldn't see how it affected me at other times.
I was really scared and stressed about going to my appt. That definatly made my headaches and everything else worse. I took some Excedrin Migraine after my appt, and within an hour, my headaches were much less than they had been in a while! Amazing what the mind can do to your body!!
Beeba, what do you mean by suspicious? Do you see something that I haven't checked yet? Just curious.
Thanks for everyone's input! Any more input would be greatly appreciated!!