I have seen 2 surgeons one that says i should have the Chiari surgery one that says if I fuse the bulging disc at C5C6 it should relieve my symptoms. The first surgeon was very eager to do the Decompression surgery the second surgeon said he would not do the Decompression surgery on me.
I am so confused i do not want to go thru the decompression surgery and the disc does need to be fused it is almost pinching off my spinal fluid i have a copy of the MRI and its horribly bulged
i did get a full spinal MRI and Lumbar and will get the results today. The first surgeon said i had signs of tethered cord syndrome the second surgeon really minimized my Chiari as a mild case and nothing to be concerned with i had to fight to get these tests.
its seems like my symptoms are getting worse, i got out of my truck the other day and it felt like someone hit my brain with a brick tons of pressure and it stopped my dead in my tracks, when i bend over and come up my head starts to throb in the most painful way and i am getting these stabbing pains in my head.
the first surgeon told me that i would be fine to ride roller coasters it would probably just irritate my disc and so i did i rode every flipping roller coaster at Disney Land. When i vacationed with my family to Disney World in December i was too afraid to ride the coasters but in February for a work trip i did. I am not sure if that is what has caused the onset of more symptoms but i have another appt with this surgeon today.
My husband is all for this surgeon because he is conservative and the disc surgery is much better than the decompression. The decompression only has a 30% success rate thats not high enough for me to consider it. the disc fusion has a 90% success rate of relieving symptoms.
I am confused and frustrated and scared i am not a fan of surgery at all.
anyone else do a disc fusion instead of decompression with success of symptom relief?
well i went in today and he said he thinks my pain is mostly ligaments and maybe i needed to see a headache specialist that now he doesnt think i should have the disc fusion because i am too young?? waited 45 mintues past my appt time for him to spend 3 minutes with me and tell me that my mri's of my thorasic and lumbar didnt show anything to be too concerned about...i left there in tears today.
i have scheduled to pick up my images which i thought i was getting a CINE but i guess thats not what i got super frustrated right now...i made an appt with the first surgeon i seen for tuesday its not that i want surgery i just dont want to be dismissed
I think that Roller Coaster adventure offset a whole new painful adventure i have never felt this bad i thought it was annoying and painful before..i am in tears daily now..dumb dumb dumb
one of the surgeons i seen was at the same office as one of the doctors listed, i asked for a referral to that office and got the jewish guy who is very conservative. I had a second appt with the first surgeon he said it was a reasonable option and covered why he wouldnt fuse my disc, its not causing my problems the PT and Cort Shots helped that a lot the symptoms i have are all from Chiari and he said it was up to me what i could tolerate.
i guess i am at a point that i want to be pain free but what if i am one of those that the surgery makes worse or doesnt help at all and i am left with a huge scar and a year of neck recovery...or i could just eat pain meds the rest of my life and deal with it like i have been sucking it up and pushing thru.
its kinda a lose lose at this point and i am beyond frustrated with it all
sorry for venting i dont mean to be negative i am just feeling very defeated
I hate that you are feeling so down. With so much going on it's a hard decision. I know I was evaluated for tethered cord before my decompression because my NS said that surgery was much easier on the patient and sometimes patients get enough relief from that alone that they don't need decompressed. I ended up not having tethered cord so we through with the decompression. So I could see where a tethered cord and a bulging disc could lead to questions about where the issues are coming from.
Maybe the doctor is wanting to do the fusion first because it's an easier surgery and may rule out the need for decompression? Did either doctor mention operating on the tethered cord? I agree with Beeba that I would be skeptical of a 90% success rate. That doesn't sound typical with a back surgery. Also I think the 30% success rate on decompression is off to. Most studies show around 80% see improvement. As much as I'm sure you don't want the hassle, I would consider getting a 3rd opinion.
As for roller coasters...I suffered some serious pain after my last amusement park trip (before diagnosis). Once diagnosed I asked my NS if roller coasters were ok and he said he wouldn't recommended them to people without chiari and gave a definite no to people with chiari. :( Sad because I loved them so.