Hi Everyone! I'll try to keep this as short as possible, but it will still be a bit lengthy. Sorry! :)
When I was in high school (14 years ago...good grief, how has it been that long?!) I had an injury to my head/neck, but I wasn't aware there was any real damage until a year later when I was having migraines with neck pain almost daily, and I was unable to look down or turn my head much to either side. A trip to a chiropractor and some x-rays revealed that my neck had started to curve the wrong way. I had many, many trips to the chiropractor over the next several months and the symptoms did go away with treatment, for the most part.
Over the last couple years, I dealt with frequent headaches again, sometimes with neck pain, but only an occasional migraine, which seemed to be brought on by sleeping on my neck wrong. I assumed it was that old injury coming back to haunt me.
In the last several months, I've been experiencing neck pain at the base of my skull, which seems to shoot up the right side of my head, across my forehead and behind my right eye. I've had 3 migraines in the last month, with nausea and occasional vomiting. I finally got tired of dealing with all this and my PCP referred me to a spinal injury specialist (still assuming old neck injury here). He ordered x-rays and MRIs of my brain and cervical spine to see what was going on. At the follow up, he said the results came back looking fine and prescribed me something to take to try to prevent the migraines, and recommended looking into massage therapy for the neck pain. When I got my copy of the MRI results, I noticed a small note at the bottom stating, "Cerebellar tonsils are low-lying" and "Impression: cerebellar tonsillar ectopia. Otherwise unremarkable MRI." I had no idea what that was so I started doing some research and found this page. The MRI results don't state how far the cerebellar tonsils have descended. Would this actually classify as Chiari malformation?
Thankfully, I wasn't happy with the answer I got from the spine specialist and my PCP graciously referred me to a neurologist, but my appointment isn't until October 12th.
Other symptoms that I've had that may or may not be related, as they don't always coincide with a headache: a crawling/stretching sensation across my forehead, dizziness/light-headed, occasionally getting hot and shaky when nauseous, occasional pressure and/or heartbeat in my ears, eyelids twitching, slight memory problems and ALWAYS being sleepy (as in- I'll fall asleep if I hold still for more than a few minutes).
Any insight anyone can give would be most appreciated! I'd like to be as well-informed as possible for my neurology appointment, but most importantly, I'm frustrated and tired of just not feeling well 24-7. Thanks so much!!!