Need direction

[muxman1]

I found out about 7 years ago that Chiari type 1.  My symptoms have been mild: lack of balance (meaning if I start to fall, I fall and can't catch myself), ringing in my ears, headache, and shaking in my hands.  I found, at first, that if I was in alignment (seeing my Chiropractor), I didn't have the headaches and the shaking wasn't as bad.  I never connected the hearing loss in my right ear to Chiari.  Anyway, about 3 1/2 weeks ago I started having a headache that won't go away, have chronic fatigue, and was having problems focusing.  I am a student, so this is a problem.  Last night my upper left arm started hurting and then continued to migrate all the way to my finger tips.  At midnight I had a sudden and sharp pain behind my right eye, but it wasn't my eye that last about 10 minutes and then when back to the regular headache.  My ears have been hurting too, but I have no congestion and the doctor looked at them and they are not infected.  I saw the Chiropractor today, which helped the pain in my arm, but my head is still aching.  Is all this related and could all this really come on this quickly?  Will an MRI show progression of Chiari?  I never really studied this because it didn't seem such an issue when I found I had it.  Any help you could give me would be appreciated.

[selmaS]

  Hi and welcome to the Chiari forum.

  Since Chiari is most times congenital, we tend to not ne aware of ALL of the symptoms affecting us as we consider how we feel to be "normal" as we have always felt like that, so it may take time b4 we see the connection and realize what we have been dealing with could be symptoms as well.

Plus Chiari symptoms do cycle....since they come and go, we also tend to consider those symptoms from nething from a cold or flu to over doing it and stress...which can in fact cause symptoms to flare...so if u r having a stressful time u could have a flare of symptoms, or a fall, coughing from the flu or a cold can also trigger symptoms to worsen.

And as soon as the flare starts it can also stop....I went yrs with minimal symptoms and stopped going to Drs and when they flared is when I would again attempt to get a DX.

The other issue is seeing a chiropractor, I also went B4 I was DX'd but once I was told I had Chiari I was also told NO Chiropractors as the manipulation of the neck area can cause us more problems and symptoms.

See our list of activities to avoid with Chiari and Syringomyelia in the Health Pages -http://www.medhelp.org/health_pages/list?cid=186

[TinyRN]

I would suggest seeing a chiari specialist or a neuro surgeon at this point if your symptoms are progressing. Some with CM may not experinece symptoms at all or will experience some but may not "need" surgery. When symptoms are less manageable ie: physical therapy, massage, medications etc then your neurosurgeon needs to be aware of any changes that are occurring. Some can come on rapidly and progress especially with the headaches. An MRI or CINE will help to show the chiari and will show if a syrinx may be related in this case as well. It may be beneficial for you to have other tests conducted when seeing your doctor before weighing any options. Also, look into the activities that you may have been doing that day that could precipitate that pain. Sometimes, stressful days or pushing our bodies past our limits can cause the CM to flare up.  I know I was seeing a massage therapist and a Chiro for my headaches and they have also gotten worse now that I have stopped going. I def would just make sure you follow up with your chiari specialist and have some testing completed.