Am I experiencing symptoms related to Chiari or something else?

[jq1106]

28 year old male here. I was out with a friend when suddenly I felt very dizzy and lightheaded like I was about to pass out, then my heart rate went up to 191. At that point my friend drove me to the hospital where they insisted it was something called PSVT or panic attacks. At that point I took off work for a week because after leaving the hospital it kept happening.

I had gone to a cardiologist thinking it was heart related because of the high heart rate, but the cardiologist gave me something called Metoprolol and told me just to take it if my heart rate went over 160, and set an appointment for 3 weeks away for an echocardiogram and a stress test. So to play it safe I took off work for the rest of the month. I'm a programmer so I can work from home.

After about 2 1/2 weeks it got really bad where I couldn't walk from my bed to the bathroom 15 feet away without feeling like I was going to pass out so I had my father bring me to the hospital.

At the hospital they admitted me and I was there for 5 days while they had a cardiologist ordering tests, until he cleared me and had a neurologist take over. I thought a neurologist sounded crazy, but I guess not. She ordered things like an EEG, cat scans, and MRI's. Before the results of the MRI came back they discharged me and the regular doctor said it was likely to be an ear infection and basically just gave me antibiotics and antivert.

However me being a tech nerd and a curious person, I started researching all my results and noticed my MRI said "Slight tonsillar ectopia measuring 3mm". And here I am seeing that it could be a serious problem, and possibly the truth behind my dizziness/lightheadedness among some other symptoms being horrible headaches multiple times daily, weird tv white noise in my vision (when feeling lightheaded), fatigue, and many more I'm not going to bore you with unless requested. I just refuse to believe that I could have an ear infection and feel no pain in my ears and that it could cause how I'm feeling.

Like others posting on here I see that a lot of doctors see to not know much about this and it slips by all the time, but it's seriously affecting me to the point where I don't feel comfortable leaving the house. What is my best course of action to look into this further to either prove or disprove this?

Sorry for the long post, I don't want to leave anything out that may be helpful, and thanks in advance for any guidance,

[selmaS]

  You may want to try an open MRI to see if that helps...but more will be needed...sorry.

No, it depends on what they were testing for....if they were not looking for certain conditions then no matter how many tests you have had they will not have found it/them.

Some conditions are not found with blood labs.....

I am in the same boat right now with INS due to mine being taken away with the new INS laws,,,,,I tried to get something but it costs too much and the deductibles too high as well....and I am paying for pregnancy testing and  dental but it does not cover me..not that I need maternity anything anymore...lol...and I could not see my Drs with the new plan....sigh

I hope you can find a PC that is able to help....that will be key to have one as they over see your overall health.

[selmaS]

  Hi and welcome to the Chiari forum.

First, is your PC Dr one that will help you find answers? If you can start there and get more answers it will be easier to get a specialist to see you.

There is more testing to be done....MRI's to look for other possible issues...related and non related....disk issues, bulging disks etc. as well as looking for a syrinx, and to see if you have an obstruction to CSF flow....

The related conditions to Chiari can cause similar symptoms as well as other conditions not related...so we all have lymes , lupus and MS ruled out to help determine what the cause is.

Have a talk with your PC and see how willing he/she is to helping you.....if they are not on board...find one that will help and go from there.

Hang in there and know you are not alone.

[jq1106]

Thanks for the unexpected prompt reply. If it's going to be a long process I think I'm better off with a different primary, mine kinda just tries to push everything off like it's no biggie.

The thought of more MRI's sounds horrible btw. They had to give me ativan cause I got super claustrophobic and freaked out lol.

Wouldn't the multiple blood tests have been able to rule out those other conditions you mentioned? They must've taken my blood about 10 times over those 5 days.

Another issue is that I currently don't have health insurance so dealing with paying out of pocket for a primary and specialists sounds costly.