My 17 year old daughter has just been diagnosed with Chiari and has an appointment with Dr.Van Poppel in Charlotte this Tuesday.
She began complaining of gastrointestinal problems in 8th grade, then shortness of breath. Specialists put her on Prevacid and Albuterol. Now she has extreme back pain and sometimes numb hands. Has anyone seen Dr.Van Poppel?
He did my surgery in March. He is very good. He knows what he is doing. The staff is great.
I have been to many drs in charlotte and have not heard of that dr. I go to dr Rachel Dolhun she is really exact and helpful.
Hi; How did you like Dr. Van Poppel? I have been going to Carolina Neurosurgery and Spine for about 6 years and have seen a spine Neurosurgeon and was well taken care of. I was referred to Dr. Scott McLanahan by my Neurologist I am thrilled with him, he is excellent and has a very wonderful and patient bedside manner. I have had my consult with him an a Lumbar Infusion Study, which unfortunately he was not able to complete because of issues related to all of my back surgeries. Dr. Mclanahan, is well known for treating brain abnormalities. He has done remarkable surgeries on young children and sees adults as well. I am waiting to hear from him as he was unable to complete the test on Friday, he wanted to go over all of my films and notes from all of my Drs. and his and see what the next step should be. Let me know how you and your daughter made out.
Sincerely
Lily
I know it’s been years - but I wonder how you did finding help for Chiari’s in Charlotte. I live close to Charlotte - and after 10+ years of being misdiagnosed, I was finally diagnosed correctly with Chiari’s by none other than Dr. Black of the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome specialist clinic. I told Dr.Black about the time I tipped my head as far back as it could go - and I passed out! Instantly, Dr.Black said, "You don’t have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. You have something called Chiaris Malformation - and it can possibly be fixed with surgery."
Wow! I had no idea the simple ‘test’ of tipping one’s head back as far as it could go - causing a blackout - would get me my elusive diagnosis.
Since then, I had my decompression surgery done in Hendersonville, NC under Dr. Michael Rosner. Chiaris decompression surgery is the ONLY surgery he does. His patients come from around the world. He was very honest with me though. He said that my age (52 at the time) and the fact that I 'delayed' surgery for more than ten years after symptoms started - would reduce my chances of full recovery.
Since Decompression surgery in 2012, I've recovered 75% full function. I LOVE it. It is so much better than 0% function. Every fourth day, all my Chiari symptoms return for 24 hours - and then I return to normal function again. Even Dr. Rosner doesn't know why my relapses are so regular - always every 4th day is a relapse.
Needless to say, I visited several neurosurgeons in Charlotte to get 2nd, 3rd opinions - and they all said I didn't even have Chiaris!!! So, I am not impressed much with Charlotte's neuro-docs. Doctor Rosner is not in the CMC system - but he's a great specialist. I highly recommend him!