Help in philly!

Hi everyone, i'm new to this and am not really sure how to do this whole forum thing, but here it goes...long story short, i've got a laundry list of issues and after a year was diagnosed with chiari type 1. i had a follow up appointment with my nuerologist. he thinks that it's not a big deal and said that it gets hyped up and way too many people get surgery. he is sending me to specialists for studies for some of the issues i am having.

my questions is, should i make an appointment with a nuerosurgeon? i read that once diagnossed you shoudl consult with one...is this correct? and if so, any reccomendations? I did some googling and can only find 1 in the area, affilieated with UPenn, Dr. Z...

Thanks for reading!

Actually I was going to a neurosurgeon because he did the fusion of my cervical verts and he's the one that saw the chiari then sent me to a neurologist.... My husband has family out that way. I'll ask them if they know of any. UPenn is darn good though

Do you know the size of your herniation? How severe are your symptoms? If you can find a NS that knows about Chiari you should definitely get a second opinion. Too many doctors dismiss the symptoms of Chiari. Depending on how much cerebral spinal fluid flow you have and the size of your herniation damage is being done from the pressure. Some doctors watch and wait and others recomend surgery right away.

he said 4mm. i would say pretty bad, and getting worse. i haven't been to a nuerosurgeon, just the nuerologist. we haven't talked about cerebral fluid or any complications. would you suggest i visit a nuerosurgeon?