Would low lying cerebral tonsils cause any symptoms?

[emilee0204]

My mother was diagnosed with Chiari a year ago after years and years of varied symptoms of which doctors couldn't piece together for a proper diagnosis. I have some of the symptoms she does, although not as intense and not as many. I went to my doctor to get tested to rule out Chiari as a cause for my near-constant headaches. Some days these headaches are bad enough to make me nauseous; I also experience balance problems (and have since I was young), brain fog/was told I had ADD due to my concentration problems, neck and back pain, and infrequent ringing in the ears.

My MRI results came back saying I had "low-lying cerebral tonsils with no definite Chiari Malformation". To my understanding this means that they are not protruding far enough to be classified as Chiari. I have three questions related to this:

1. Do different doctors diagnose with different criteria, would it be worth getting a second opinion?

2. Would having low-lying tonsils themselves be the cause of my headaches and pains and could this worsen and develop into true Chiari?

3. Are pain killers going to be my only option for dealing with these constant headaches since I do not technically have any type of treatable condition?

Any and all help and insight would be greatly appreciated.

[selmaS]

  Hi and welcome to the Chiari forum,

First let me state that many Drs will not say Chiari unless the tonsils are herniated 5mm's or more....BUT Chiari is the malformation of the skull which causes the tonsils to herniate....it is a congenital condition....Low lying tonsils is an acquired condition which occurs due to an injury or trauma to neck or shoulder area.....BOTH cause the same symptoms so regardless of what it is being called or how it formed they both have similar if not the same symptoms.

George Clooney had low lying tonsils due to injury....he was in misery due to symptoms and had surgery.

Low lying tonsils can not develop into Chiari  or a true Chiari but the tonsils can continue to grow or lengthen and the Dr may feel it is now Chiari once that happens,,,,but you will want to send your MRI to a true specialist to see if it is Chiari with minimal obstruction....and rule out if you might have other related conditions as they too can cause the same symptoms so if the low lying tonsils are not the root of your symptoms find out what is.

Did you have a CINE MRI? Or any other MRI's of the thoracic or lumbar spine?