Function of Cerebellar Tonsils

[mama2twobabies]

Out of curiosity, what is the function of the cerebellar tonsils? I can't find their exact function. I can find the cerebellum's function of controlling balance, spacial & fine motor functions. Are the cerebellar tonsils related to the functions of the cerebellum only, or do they have their own specific functions? Just wondering what these things that are causing all of these problems with me actually do in my brain!

[selmaS]

  Hi and welcome to the Chiari forum.

The entire surgery helped my symptoms, and there is no way for me to say that having the tonsils reduced were the only positive influence, as I feel the way my Dr handled everything overall has helped me.

Did u have a lamenectomy and duraplasty the first time around? Did they rule out related conditions?
What all was done the first time and what is going on that u need a revision?

[ecorb04]

Did shrinking the cerebellar tonsils improve your symptoms? I am due to have a revision surgery and this is what they plan to do.

Regards

[selmaS]

  Hi and welcome to the Chiari forum.

Aww what a cutie u have, I saw the pic of u 2....

It is very possible to have headaches in the forehead....Drs feel since the herniation is in the base of the skull that is where all pain should be, but bcuz of how Chiari can compress the brain stem we can have referred pain in our back,shoulders, and legs, so y not the front of our head?

Keep checking diff Drs..find one that has Chiari experience...and see what all is going on with ur DD, she may have related conditions as well....

Also keep in mind Chiari can compress our sinuses  too and that can cause those frontal pains.

Have they ruled out a CSF obstruction and syringomyelia?
And other related conditions like sleep apnea?

[selmaS]

Hi and welcome to the Chiari  forum.

Many young children have decompression surgery...it all depends on what is going on...u may not notice symptoms as he may not complain, but as a fellow chiarian I know I always had pains after certain activities and just decided I would not do them or avoid them, even having a BM would cause pain, but I thought that was "normal" since I always had them...so he may have more symptoms then u know but has adapted to them.

Next, make sure all testing is done especially since he is so young sleep apnea is done....

Also test for all related conditions...but once u know there is a CSF obstruction and it is affecting the optic nerve it could just get worse if not relieved.

Make sure the surgeon is a true Chiari specialist..not just a NS that does these surgeries every so often u want one with experience and it makes a huge difference.

Hang in there <3

[hnh1384]

My daughter is 5 and has CM2. She has had headaches since she was 2 years old. About 95% of them are in her Forehead area. I was wondering, even though the CM is in the back lower part of her head, could the CM still be the cause of these headaches? Her dr.s can't seem to give me any reason for the headaches.

[nickymarie]

Hi, My son has suffered from nystagmus from the age of 3/4 months. He has undergone a series of tests to try to identify the cause of his nystagmus and last year he had a MRI which identified a CM. As a result he was referred to a neurosurgeon. From what I had read on the internet I was expecting to e told that they would be monitoring his condition and in a few years time may possibly need to operate. He shows no obvious symptoms (apart from his nystagmus) of anything wrong and his development has been at the same rate as his twin brother. I was stunned when the neurosurgeon stated that he wished to operate within the next month. He showed me the scans which clearly showed compressionon on the spinal column, and around the optic nerve it was evident that there was a build up of fluid (although thankfully he said that this had not yet caused any damage).

He seems very young to be needing decompression surgery. I was wondering if anyone else had been operated on so young? I am also concerned that he may need further operations to correct this as he grows - how many times can this operation be repeated? I was just wondering if anyone has had any experience with this in such a young child?

Nicky