In my last post I basically vented, but didn't really go over my symptoms. I just would like to list my symptoms and get some insight from others on rather or not they could really becoming from the Chiari.
1. Headaches (mainly left side back of head and temple)
2. Ear pain
3. Weird swooshing sound coming from right ear when I lean my head to the left.
4. Extreme fatigue
5. Lack of concentration
6.Poor spelling skills (I used to be great at spelling. It has declined).
7. Constant dull neck pain (mainly left side)
8. Vision has gotten worse. I have relatively new glasses but, I don't think they are working and I couldn't even be fitted for contacts. Left eye twitches a lot.
9. I also was experiencing eye irritation, like they were burning. I thought maybe it was just allergies.
10. I don't know if this is connected to Chiari, but I'm always getting sick. Like I supposedly have a virus now and my doctor and the Doctor in the ER really could not give me an explanation for it. So I don't know if there is a connection between Chiari and having fevers and getting sick a lot.
I would love to say they all fit me but as we are different Chiari is different with all of us. Like your headaches, my actually became worse after decompression surgery. With spelling it may be more of a brain fog, for me it can be anything on any given today. Today for example, I forgot my lunch, which I just cooked by the microwave, answered the phone then I started to make a different lunch, cold sandwiches until my wife brought me the meal I just made. 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8I have had or still continue to have really most of your list with different degrees of severity. Some caused by just sleeping the wrong way. What I did for my NL, NS, PCP is created a daily and monthly detailed log of what was happening and when, how long, pain severity etc which help them get more of the picture I go through. I wish you luck and would fined a neurosurgeon (NS) who specializes in chiari and go from there.
Finally , like you kinda of mentioned, sometimes we love to blame chiari for unexplainable things but it is not chiari's fault. Also with chiari it has so many signs and symptoms that sometime more often than not, it gets misdiagnosed as something else. Many doctors do not recognize let alone know and understand chiari so they pass the buck. If you get a NS who knows about CM (chiari) the might dismiss it as too small (at least 5mm is what the report said) and my NS said it was not CM because it was too small.so it could not be my problem. Another NS we went to ordered a CINE MRI (measures CSF flow at the brain stem) to humor me and it came back no flow. It took me 2+ months to get his office to have him actually call me. So I went to the local one and he finally agreed too the surgery. Great skill as a surgeon but the rest of his skill and denial of my worsening symptoms leave a lot to be desired.
Sorry I kind of went on a rant and rave, please excuse me for going ff track. I hope I helped or at least gave some information to thing about.
Hi there, I say yes to your symtoms 1,4,5,6,7? (My neck pain and occipital pressure are sharp stabbing pulling pain with numbness in my neck & numb upper arms, I can speak to poor concentration and cognitive disfunction, I can also say I used to have a photographic memory and great communication skills and now it's hard to recall short term memory, names, & words, I hope this helps