Hello! I was diagnosed with a 7mm herniation today with no syringohydromyelia. I am flying overseas tomorrow and I was curious what I could take for a headache and pressure. Anything OTC work for anyone out there? I do not see the specialist at Hopkins until 10/16 so she can not prescribe me anything.
I should say that my symptoms are pretty mild. Mild neck pain and mild back of head/scalp pain. I have read ALOT of information regarding this in the last few days and I am grateful for all of your support. The back of my head/neck feel a little '‘full’, I am very fatigued and I get face tingling sometimes, but that is about it.
Any advice? I am taking my two oldest sons (14 and 12) on a trip and they are beyond excited!
I look forward to sharing my journey with you all and I thank you ALL for your help already.
I have not found that medications help with the true Chiari pain. That said, Chiari can bring about other indirect reasons for pain that are not related to compromised blood flow to the dura which equals vague back of the head pain. Other reasons for pain include motor control issues of the cervical spine and shoulder girdle area or brain processing problems from having Chiari. If the information that your brain is receiving (from the areas of compression from Chiari or other) our brain often interprets those messages as pain. This is why Chiari folk often have such strange reports of symptoms that do not seem to make sense. Because the cause of pain are brain derived and not tissue derived meds do not work all that well, as many people on this site can attest to.
What to do… assess assess assess. Chances are that the neurosurgeon or neurologist do not have that skill set. Find folks that do. Skills in motor control issues, neurodynamics, and graded motor imagery skills in assessment and treatment are able to help those with Chiari pain. Good luck in finding solutions.
I live in Australia and I bought some earplugs from the chemist called earplanes. You put them in before the plane takes off and can either have them in the whole flight or take them out and put them back in 1/2 hour before decent. These particular ones stop the pressure. I’ve used them and got no pressure build up at all. You can still hear with them in so it’s great in that respect. I took mine out once we were in the air because I was recovering from a ear infection at the time and it was unconfortable. If you take them out you must put them back in 1/2 he before decent though otherwise you get the pressure build up.
Don’t know where you’re situated but I’m sure there is a pharmacy around you can get some from that are similar