Not Sure to do Surgery?

General
1

Hi All,

I'm a 44 old mother of 3.

I have Hashimotos thyroid disease and sjogrens, so in the beginning of all this I thought I was just having a flare up.

Probably started over 1 year ago with bad neck pain and dizziness. Than came the headaches and nauseous.The numbness in my left arm and pins & needles in my hands and feet & terrible pain in my left ear and always feel like I have a head cold. Just started having choking during the day and terrible times of waking up in the night not being able to breathe.

I have seen a whole list of Drs and specialist and had so many tests I'm so over this. If the put me in another MRI machine I think I'm going to lose it.

2 MRi of the cerivical spine and Brain MRI and Cat scan all show Chiari at about 8mm - Fluid in my left inner ear canal - severe canal stenosis with myelopathy in my neck

I have seen 3 Nuero DRs.

1st one said the the Chiari could cause sudden death and scared me and my husband

2nd Dr said I dint even have it but would do the surgery anyways because of symptoms and Drs wont look for other casues with the Chiari on my MRI

3rd Dr said to fix my neck 1st and 3 months later fix the Chiari's

My Rhuemy doesnt want me to do 2 back to back surgeries in case it puts me in a flare - I would prefer not to do either, but I am concerned with the breathing and choking as it is happening often.

On Friday I had to go to ER, they didnt want to perform the surgery as an emergency they want me to do it this week.

I have a referral in at UCLA and hope to get in this week, my very good primary DR wants to get UCLA's take on the whole situation and since my Rhuemy is from UCLA he figures they can all game plan it together.

Sorry about TMI but just want to get everyones take on this

Do you think I while actually have to fix the Chiari's?

When does it get to dangerous to wait?

If you got the surgery did it make you feel better?

Did anyone have to fix their neck to?

Thanks so much, so tired of the pain and the not known

2

Hi KB i can give you an answer from my recent experience. I had a decompresion surgery and laminectomy a year ago and it is true that if you wait a long time after your symtoms start to show it is gonna be worst for you because it can damage more you spinal cord and have some functions that will never be the same for example the strenght in your arms. i KNow that surgery can be a scary thing but most of us get better after that, there is no cure but at least your symptoms will decrease.

Try to check for a neurosurgeon that might be able to fix your head and your neck at the same time, your post-op will be the same ...

hope everything goes well with you and be confident that you will feel better after thar procedure..

hugs!

3

Thank you so much - I appreciate the feedback



Lo said:

Hi KB i can give you an answer from my recent experience. I had a decompresion surgery and laminectomy a year ago and it is true that if you wait a long time after your symtoms start to show it is gonna be worst for you because it can damage more you spinal cord and have some functions that will never be the same for example the strenght in your arms. i KNow that surgery can be a scary thing but most of us get better after that, there is no cure but at least your symptoms will decrease.

Try to check for a neurosurgeon that might be able to fix your head and your neck at the same time, your post-op will be the same ...

hope everything goes well with you and be confident that you will feel better after thar procedure..

hugs!