Hey everyone,
I got the results of my MRI scan from last week and it says ‘there is no evidence of chiari malformation’.
Has anyone else who has had the surgery gone for a MRI and had the reporting technician state that there is no chiari?
I’m really confused because I thought that regardless of surgery being done that I would still have chiari and aside from surgical changes, there would be some evidence that I had chiari?
I’m pretty sure my disability insurance is going to look at that one line where it says I don’t have chiari and cut off all of my benefits and payments.
Anyone have any suggestions on what my next steps should be?
I had my surgery in Sept of 2011 so I’m a little over 3 years post op. However my symptoms came back after 2 - 2.5 years of being symptom free. My NL said it is most likely chronic headaches that I’m suffering from as ‘most chiari patients who have had surgery that was successful have relapses that cause severe headaches that are related to chiari but not due to physical changes of the brain position’. I was just shocked to see that the person who read the images said there was no evidence of chiari… I think, in my opinion, that surgery is evidence of chiari. I’m glad my scans were normal and no more surgery is needed at this time… but I’d still like to know why I’m getting these headaches that are so much like my headaches prior to surgery.
Thank you for the replies. And encouraging words… Abby thank you for those images! That makes me feel a lot better about my report for sure. My physiotherapist told me I’m not allowed to do a lot of things (bike riding, skiing, tubing, skating, curling etc) unless I find a helmet that protects my head properly. He also said to be extra careful driving and to ensure if I do drive that my seat and head rest are in the proper positions (he actually came out to my car today to check it out) he said I have my seat and head rest set perfectly for me, he said it was almost like this car was made for me, he tried to get himself in a perfect position in the passenger seat and it just didn’t work for him.
I hope I don’t get cut off from my disability but if I do, I will probably have to get a medical record of employment from my work and start claiming unemployment insurance money from the government. 
Yay for everything looking good, but sometimes that's the LAST thing we want!! My NS ordered me to have an MRI 4 months post-op and said he is expecting it to be read as normal (because radiologist doctors aren't NS.) He is hoping the duraplasty allowed the tonsils to pull up and back showing no signs of actual Chiari.
Just because you have no visible signs of Chiari on an MRI doesn't mean you're "cured" because there is no cure. There will be things we can't do from damage already done. So glad you have a great car! Our rental is like that! I'll be sad when the truck comes back because I'm digging the rental car since surgery!!!
XOXO
I believe they ruled out instability. My physio guy doesn’t think it’s an issue at this time… he said my neck and upper back muscles are so tight he doesn’t believe it’s possible for instability right now. but because my muscles are so tight and tense they could be causing my headaches so we are slowly working on relieving some of the tension.