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Avatar universal

Back pain- four years post op

Hello everyone and thank you in advance.
I was diagnosed and underwent decompression surgery for Chiari I four years ago. I'd been diagnosed with not-too-severe scoliosis a couple of years before, but my doc said it was most likely unrelated to Chiari as it was in the lower section of the spine. And yet, surprise, surprise, when I got x-rays several months/a year after the surgery, the curvature in my spain had reduced to the point of being completely functional and requiring no further treatment. Never spoke about it with my surgeon, but it seemed safe to assume that it was related to Chiari after all and the surgery helped correct it.
Backstory over, I've been suffering from mild-to-moderate back pain over the last few weeks. It feels (from what I remember) like the scoliosis pain. Because I never discussed the effects of the surgery on my spine with the surgeon, I have no idea if it could be the scoliosis returning for unrelated reasons, or the Chiari acting up again and messing up my spine. Is any of that possible? Should I go straight to a neurologist/traumatologist about it or see a gp first and consider other options?
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620923 tn?1452915648
COMMUNITY LEADER

  Unfortunately it is not always seen on a MRI...but it is a place to start....another way is to look at the length of the brain stem ,it tends to be elongated when TC is present....hernia's( umbilical cord and hiatal) are also a tell tale sign as well as a sacra; dimple or hairy patch on the lower back.

Depending on how tight the TC is, symptoms may worsen in the first 6 weeks post op of the PFD.....but I had the surgery and I do have TC and my symptoms did not worsen....so far I have been able to avoid the TC surgery.
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Avatar universal
I did have an mri of the head, neck and spine back then. There was no mention of that. Is that something that can turn up later? The ns didnt bring it up at any point as far as I remember, so he was either unaware of it or he didnt consider it a possibility. I'm pretty clueless about it.
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620923 tn?1452915648
COMMUNITY LEADER

  Hi...did they rule out tethered cord?

That is a related condition to Chiari and it can cause scoliosis....and it can also  cause the herniation of the cerebral tonsils.

I have both the tethered cord and mild scoliosis....but I had not had my scoliosis checked since my decompression surgery.....

I would see your PCP and see if you can get a MRI of the lumbar spine?
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620923 tn?1452915648
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