Hi All:
I have learned quite a bit from reading other posts and info on this Chiari support group website. Like many members, I have had terrible occipital/temporal headaches as well as neck/shoulder pain for almost 4 years now. Another symptom that profoundly affects my quality of life is chronic hoarseness. My voice is so bad that after talking for more than a few sentences, I typically have to resort to whispering. I am almost unable to get through a lengthy conversation on the phone due to my voice problems. In fact, I have given up using the phone unless absolutely necessary.
Another troubling symptom is the intermittent bouts of atrial fibrillation that I often have after no physical exertion whatsoever. Sometimes I wake up in the morning and feel like my heart is racing. I check my pulse and can feel that my heartbeat is irregular--my heart is skipping beats. I had an echocardiogram done last month and the results showed that my heart function and anatomy were within normal limits. I am taking a beta blocker and an anti-arrhythmia agent and this does not seem to control my a-fib. I don't really know what to make of this and neither do my docs.
I have read where quite a few members mention hoarseness and I am aware that every case of CM Type I presents with unique symptoms, but I was wondering if any of you experience hoarseness to the same degree that I do. I literally sound like I have laryngitis every hour of every day. When my symptoms first started in March 2011, my voice would be OK until later in the day. Over time my voice got progressively worse to the point where I only had a few minutes of sounding like I did before my symptoms started.
I am also wondering if any of you can explain how CM causes a chronically hoarse voice. My sense is that it has something to do with brainstem compression. The vagus nerve (cranial nerve X) supplies the muscles that control the vocal cords. If one's CM is causing compression of the lower brainstem it makes sense that this could cause changes in voice due to impingement of the vagus nerve. The fact that I am experiencing problems with a-fib seems to support this hypothesis as well. The vagus nerve is important in the autonomic nervous system and regulates heart rate.
Thanks in advance for any answers that come my way.
Regards,
MC