Pregnant + Chiari= a lot of pain

General
1

Hi, I don't post on here often but I read a lot of posts. I was Dx with Chiari after yrs of pain, and issues. I went to a NS & NL, both said my symptoms werent related to Chiari. Total BS I know. Many of my symptoms mirtor many of yours. I nKNOW its cause of the Chiari. Anyhow now Im 14 wks pregnant with my 2nd baby. While preg w/my 1st 2yrs ago I got awful migraines. My OB thought just from hormones. He gave me Fiorcet. Then they royally messed up my Epidural, redoing it 4xs, still didnt work. Then they punctured the spinal column causing me to need to go back in 3days later a total crying zombie mess for a blood patch. The NS & OB told me they caused my chiari to worsen when they punctured it by 'sucking the piece down further' for lack of a better term. Now they say I cant have an epi ever again, so if i need a c-section Ill have to get put under :( They also said my migriane, pain, and weakness would be worse this time around. Boy were they right. Ive been suffering from AWFULmigraines. I tried taking the Fiorcet again it doesnt touch the pain. The OB gave me something similar to Norco but it makes me violently ill. Relaxing isnt an option since i have a 14 mos old. But hating every day and spending my evenings on the couch crying is getting old.

Im struggling because the OBs say its just hormonal, and NS/NL wont even see me since Im preg & they cant do any tests. I want to avoid a daily med since it concerns me about the baby. out of the past 28days 21 have been filled with some degree of a migraine. Can anyone offer any help or advice?

2

Linny,

I take Zomig for headaches but I don't know if you can take that while pregnant. When I was pregnant with my second child I wasn't diagnosed yet but I was getting worse. The things that worked for me was acupuncture, massage and heat packs. There is one more kind of strange thing that helped me a little and that was reflexology. In reflexology people believe that points on your feet correspond to points in/on your body. The toes represent your head and the little toe corresponds to the base of your skull. When I had a headache before I had medicine my husband would rub my feet and very often there was a very painful spot on my small toe that when it was rubbed hard it seemed to give me some relief from my head pain. It didn't make it go away but it helped to lessen it. I wouldn't normally tell someone this but because you are pregnant I am risking sounding like a looney tune. : ) My doctor also gave my Tylenol with codeine. It helped a little bit. You shouldn't be suffering so much. I am so very sorry that you are having such a hard time. Is there a Chiari specialist near you? You need to find someone that will help you no one should have to live like you are living. I am sorry you are in such pain...Wendy