Head pressure

[lynnbrook177]

Hi again, it's been a while,

My symptoms have increased lately :(. Since September, the ear fullness has strengthened along with the tinnitus.  I have had vertigo and dizziness a few times in the past year. Now, my head pressure is so strong at times, it is scaring me! And I am beginning to have neck and shoulder pain, stronger than before. Sometimes, at night, I hear wooshing from the blood vessels near my ear and I get dizzy laying down (not every night, thankfully).  To this day, my doctors have said that Chiari is not affecting me, but I haven't seen my gp yet to tell him about the new neck pain.

Even my family thinks I'm just an anxious mess! It's pretty sad! Anyway, my question is: how much head pressure is ok.? I just wonder what your doctors have said about it.  Thanks for your responses! I have a doctor appt Monday.  Should I wait that long? I worry about stroke! I am 52.

[Elisaandbucky]

First let me say thank you to you, Lottida, for encouraging all of us with the account of your recovery. It is so good to be able to read about people doing well. I hope your steady healing continues. Good Luck with your return to driving.

Lynnbrook, I remember from your initial post that you said you were 52, and it sounded like you were concerned about your symptoms in light of your age. I am only months behind you, at 51.  Dizziness is crazy sometimes for me, too. Did you get a chance to see your PCP yesterday? Do you have any further plans to have any testing? Please let us know.

[Lottida]

Hi I just wanted to let you know that I had every symptom you have listed for 7 weeks prior to my surgery.  The dizziness/off balance caused me to almost fall on people in church several times while walking up to receive bread/wine.  I had decompression surgery with duraplasty & C1 laminectomy on April 2nd & all of my symptoms are gone.  I still have some neck stiffness from the surgery with minimal pain at incision site.  I forgot what it felt like to live without pressure in head, fullness & ringing in ear, dizziness/off balance, pain down right arm with numbness ect.....  I do not have any of the related conditions (EDS, POTS, ect...) so my recovery has been pretty straight forward.  I actually am cleared to begin driving again since I have 60% return of neck rotation after 12 days post op.   I hope this is of some help to you since I had almost exactly the same symptoms except that I actually had hearing loss to right ear also.  My hearing is now back to normal.  Good luck to you & hope you get some answers that help.

[Elisaandbucky]

Hi Lynn. I am anxious to hear what you learn tomorrow (Monday 4/13 appointment?) about the possible causes that your doctor believes may be at the route of your pressure. Is it difficult for you to lay down with the pressure you are feeling? What about your head pain? Please post back when you finish with your appointment tomorrow. I hope you sleep well tonight.

[kwalker0004]

Hi, I get this a lot. I am not sure how much pressure we are suppose to worry about. I know it prevents me from going to sleep. Everytime I lay down it seems to get worse. Just this past week I have had to stay up three nights until the headache along with the pressure went away. The other thing that scares me the most is having trouble swallowing in the past 2 or 3 weeks. I cant wait to see my NL this Wednesday. Best of luck to you.

[selmaS]

  Have you had a full spine MRI to rule out Syringomyelia? I know that a syrinx can drastically change in a short time....not sure why they can sometimes be very slow to change in size and then for no apparent reason expand to more then double the size in a few weeks....

Any change you have in symptoms is a need to be seen by your NS or NL.

[lynnbrook177]

I will see my GP on Monday to go over blood tests and I had a CT scan this morning on my sinuses this morning (due to constant ear fullness and throat pressure).

I saw my neurologist last Septmber and I was feeling great! :(

[lynnbrook177]

Hi Selma,

No surgery. My symptoms have actually just worsened in the last month, rather quickly I would say. I've had dizziness, vertigo and now neck and shoulder pain in the last couple days. The constant head pressure is the scariest!  I don't know how much I am supposed to put up with, without getting checked out. I haven't had validation from doctors either. Just three two weeks ago my GP and I were considering low thyroid due to menopause.  After feeling the neck pain, stiffness and pressure, I cant imagine it's anything but chiari. Do symptoms still fluctuate at this point?

[selmaS]

  Hi...can you refresh us here...have you had surgery?

It is hard to know what to suggest not knowing which side of surgery you are on...pre op or post op.

AND have ALL related conditions been ruled out?