I had my decompression surgery in Jan 2013. My surgery went well but now I am having Pins and Needles in my arms and hands. It usually only happens when i first wake up or sometimes it wakes me from my sleep. I had a EMG (testing of the nerves) test done last week which came back ok thank God! Im getting nervous and do not wish to have another surgery. My Neurosurgeon says that "any symptoms after surgery are not Chiari related but i think differently. After all it was my Chiropractor who found the Chiari not the Neurologist nor the PCP. I also have Tinitus (constant ringing in my left ear) which i now wear a hearing aid to mask out the sound. Constant pain down my neck to my arms all on the left side. .....Has anyone else had these issues?
I have had all these issues. Many Chiarians do. I also had EMG testing and did have a thoracic outlet and have had nerve blocks and ablation that has helped but I still see the pain specialist and take daily medications to help the chronic pain. I have severe neck pain from a rebuilt C Spine during CM surgery then C5 removed & fused C6 three years later. The shoulder and arm pain came a little later. The tingling in my hands, feet and lips has never stopped and at times are worse than others. My legs are tingling right now. All symptoms post CM surgery are related. How could they not be? I never had them before CM surgery. My tinnitus did stop after a while. I am so sorry you are having to wear a hearing aid to drown it out. Symptoms post surgery may be from related disorders like EDS or POTS but everything is still CM related. Have you seen a NL or pain specialist about the tingling & pain? I highly recommend a pain management specialist the most. NL haven't helped me personally but they do some. I really hope you get some pain mgmt help.
Please let us know how you are continuing to do with everything,
Tracy Z.
Thank You so much for your response. I did ask my PCP to refer me to a pain management clinic since she stopped my pain meds thinking i was an addict. Really Doc? I just had surgery..i only take the pain med oxycodone 5mg at night to ease the pain?? and she thinks im addicted? I work in the hospital and see how people who are addicts get refills for pain meds all the time. My Tinitus is horrible even with the hearing aid. the constant ringing is annoying. sometimes i cant even tell when im wearing the aid because it does not mask out the ringing. I go to the Chiropractor once a week who says i have two herinated disc in my neck and the pressure is due to the Chiari. My Neurosurgeon was wonderful... Chief of Neurosurgery at two hospitals here but is an idiot to think that none of this is related to Chiari. He claims that whatever symptoms that were Chiari related would be gone by now? so what was the sense of opening up my head and fixing what?? my headaches seem to have disappeared yrs ago. I did the surgery because i thought it would fix the pain and ringing in my ear. boy was i wrong. thanks again for responding