Prior to seeing Dr. Ellenbogen, all my doctors preformed the same standard neurological tests, which I seemed to pass with flying colors everytime. I was expecting Dr. E to do the same, but he didn’t. He did tests that no one had ever done before and I’m pretty sure I failed every single one of them. Has anyone else noticed this difference after seeing a Chiari specialist? I wish all doctors knew the correct neurological tests to do for Chiari. The two tests I remember him doing are:
He held my finger at the last joint before the tip of my finger. He pushed down on my nail bed and the tip of my finger stayed pointing down…it didn’t spring back into place. I’ve tried this on several people and all of their fingers spring back into place.
He held his finger up in front of me and moved it several times, while I tried to coordinate touching his finger then my nose over and over again. Yeah…apparently, I can’t do that.
I’m just curious, if others have experienced this same thing.
I had the same experience after seeing my new NS who is an expert on Chiari. I have had dozens and dozens of doctors do the standard neuro exam and dismiss my syptoms because I passed them. The Chiari specialist did similiar but modified versions and some new ones. She had an assistant with her and they kept knodding at each other each time I "failed" a step. It's amazing the difference. I had never spoken to anybody that knew more about Chiari than I did after seeing dozens upon dozens of doctors specialists and healthcare proffessionals. I said it was like you have been speaking a different language all these years and then all of a sudden someone is speaking english to you.
I know exactly what you mean! About midway through my appointment with Dr. Ellenbogen, I started crying…I think Dr. E thought I was upset that he was recommending surgery, but that’s not the reason I was crying…I was crying, because I was relieved to finally be standing in front of someone that listened to and understood everything I was saying…Like you said, it was like someone was finally speaking the same language. It couldn’t have been more different from all my other appointments. I can’t wait until it’s standard policy to do the ‘right’ neurological tests for Chiari…People might actually get the care they need in a reasonable amount of time. I am so glad that you are finally being taken care of by a specialist:)
