I tend to forget the good things in life when my life is going haywire in non-medical ,medical, financial and all other negative things that everyone with a pulse goes thru!!!
So, today i want to share my strides since decompression 2.5 yrs ago:
The random increased heart rate that would come out of nowhere..unproveked by anxiety ect..would wake me from a sound sleep.
this next is great....b4 surgery i would get bronchitis and pnemonia(sp?) AT LEAST 4x yrly..for years this would be the case..Naturally,pulmonologist and PCP said it wouldn't happen so often if I would only quit smoking..made complete sense to me..but didn't stop smoking!!! stupid, i know..since decompression I have had NO pnemonia/bronchitis....not once....
makes me think that the Chiari had something to do with the respitory issues....i mean, it was serious..my hubby would have to gently bang on my back to loosen all the junk in my lungs...gross!!
Had drop foot on the left side..still weakness in legs but no drop foot.
H/A are less in # and have lessened in severity of pain...still get them, but not as bad.hey some improvement is better than none at all.
if i think of any more sx's that have improved..i will let ya's know...you see, my memory has NOT gotten better..oh well.
Zipperheads...let us know if you have any improvements to share....my hope is that the members facing surgery can read about our successes...there is hope...It toook me a good 1.5yrs to feel any real relief....this condition is real, has tons of Sx's...even after the operation it take a long while to see/feel improvement.
oh..need to add that i no longer use a cane....i still have weakness is both legs..but i go slowly now,try to..LOL
Before surgery July 2003....I was literally waking up every morning before school with horrible head and neck pressure. It hurt so bad it made me vomit. I was pretty much waking up and running to the bathroom. There were days I couldn't even turn my neck from side to side.
After surgery and recovery...I could wake up and not puke for once. I don't really get that much. I get the pain and pressure once in a while, but nowhere near what it was before. Now every morning I wake up with what I describe as a 'residue' feeling. Its like background pain that's just there...it doesn't always hurt. Its just annoying, though I'm used to it.
I was sensitive to hot/cold for awhile. I was working as a dishwasher at a restaurant. I was pulling the dishes out of the dishwasher with bare hands when I first started, while others were using towels and gloves. My hands would be blood red...but I didn't feel a thing. That has changed. Most of the time temperatures feel normal to me. Though with water on my hands, I can still handle hotter than normal.
After surgery a lot of symptoms came up that I never experienced or never noticed before. I didn't really start looking up things about Chiari and Syringomyelia until the next year. I wasn't really understanding what was going on at the time. I just wanted the pain to stop. So really I could've had other symptom pre-surgery, I just really don't remember.
I love this discussion!!! Good news is what I need to hear! I am intrigued about the pulmonary issues. I've had asthma that leads to bronchitis since I was a child. What is strange though is that I only had problems in April when the trees were pollinating. Every year I would miss two weeks of school in April and then be fine until the next year. In the past few years I am constantly having trouble with asthma and bronchitis. I had never put the two together before but the increase in my lung issues definitely started around the time the Chiari symptoms became a problem.
that is great..and y ou are basically a'fresh post-op'...your next NS app? I am sure he will tell you thathis is a wonderful sign..improvement 6 weeks post op....and will con't to see more improvement as time goes by.
Amen to that! My children are my greatest gifts. Each one of them has brought such joy to my life. I get overwhelmed at the thought that God has seen fit to bless undeserving me by allowing me to be their mother. Sadly, my health now makes me afraid to have anymore but I look SO SO forward to grandchildren!!!hahaha! I’m wishing tons on my kids!
Improvements- I would love to say I am all healed and 100% back to who i was before all this took over my life
I will say i have noticed some improvements Like i have few visual auras, occasional ringing in ears, minimal constipation, fewer days of confusion or lack of words. One of the biggest improvements for me is I feel I am now capable of understanding what is being said around me ( b4 it seemed to take me a long time to understand things) my lack of interest in life in general, is coming back and i am not so exhausted all the time anymore. gait was never much of an issue for me (unless i was dizzy) but i do have less feelings of i am falling and or depth perception. I am sure there are more but right now i cant think of them--LMAO
MIND YOU THOUGH I do have cervical stenosis which is bringing me to retain many of the SAME symptoms from Chiari, AND I have a shunt which brings me its own challanges while iam still in learning process stage with the shunt.