I am new here.. I am not sure where to begin. Had my appointment yesterday with the neurologist. He never mentioned once about the CM the only thing he seemed worried about is the 3 herniated discs in my neck pushing on my spinal column. I was sent to him to see what could be done with the CM. He told me he wants to operate ASAP to relieve the pressure off of the spinal column... so I am still at a loss on what I need to do. I'm constantly sick in the stomach I don't know if it from nerves or CM... the left side of my body is completely weak... I just don't know what is what any more... I can't get a straight answer from anyone (in laymans) terms of what CM is... it's all medical terminology.
I can understand your confusion...I had a similar experience..well..my neurosurgeon DID talk to me about the CM...but he wanted to fix the disk in my neck first..before moving forward with a brain decompression...His thought was ..lets fix what we know needs fixing..I , too, had a disk on the spinal cord..You have 3...which could be the cause of many of your issues.
My NS fused the neck..then he wanted to wait 6 mths post op and re-evaluate the CM...we did that and moved forward to the decompression.
I am wondering if this is your doctors thinking..(?) Though, it concerns me that he did not mention the CM..
You wrote that your appt. was with a neurologist...did you mean neurosurgeon?? Neurologists generally do not operate.
Can I ask who referred you to this doctor? Wondering if you know anyone who has had surgery with him in the past?
If your primary referred you...I think it would be a good idea to call your primary and tell him/her your concerns...that the CM was not even mentioned...the primary can be helpful when it comes to the communication that is lacking with some surgeons! Just my own experience! I remeber calling my primary and asking him.."So, What did HE have to say!??" and my primary would give me the ..long and short of it! That was at the begining of my journey...now I got a bit older and a wee bit wiser ..bolder with these docs!
Good luck..let us know what is going on...hang in there!