Hello everyone. I've been a member here for a bit, and mostly just read stories and look for answers, so this is my first post. In 2009, age 26, I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. That's when everything changed on many levels. Essentially after having a baby, you're fatigued and "off" but something wasn't right. I started walking into thing, felt unstable, headaches, and then started getting sensations that I was falling. I had numbness in my neck and upper back and PC didn't like the way things sounded. Had an MRI in 2010 and concluded that I had Chiari Malformation. The herniation kept growing and symptoms got worse. I had my first decompression surgery in June 2011. Everything was amazing afterwards. The surgery wad great. I healed well and felt wonderful. The pressure was gone in my head and ears and I felt like I had control over myself and life again....for a few months. In September 2011, the symptoms came back as if someone just flicked a switch. I was devastated. MRI showed a cist like area collecting spinal fluid where the patch was. In 2012 we tried aspirating the fluid which worked for the moment, but the fluid just kept building; essentially placing pressure again on the cerebellum. In January 2013, Dr's decided to go in again. The surgery went well, but recovery was awful! ((make note, I did not take any of the pain medication outside of the hospital except for ibuprofen)). It seems as though that "patch" was no longer holding place and it was creating a damn and collecting all the fluid. They replaced the patch (I think) and double stitched it in place. Things were okay for a bit. And then slowly the symptoms returned. Everyone claims my brain looks good and I have been through every Dr there can be. Dizzy specialist, cardiologists, Neuro, ENT, chiropractor....etc. I've had diagnoses of silent migraines, vertigo, possible POTS, dehydration, stress..... All with no success as being an answer. So after one Dr last year said "i was too emotional" I gave up. I just let everything be, because I had a family to get to and a life to try and enjoy. Then on June 26 this year I blacked out while driving Hoe from work. Scariest thing ever. I don't know how I didn't crash, but when I came back to, I couldn't lift my head up. It had slumped over when I blacked out (and I don't mean things got dark... It was like my body shut off) and then felt like it weighed 100 lbs. So now Dr's are all over me trying to figure things out but they don't know. Had CT scans, echocardiogram, ultrasound of coratid artery, heart monitor, and next is a MRI, an EEG to rule out seizures. But, nothing seems to add up to the Dr's so right now we're trying to find a needle in a haystack. I have a bad feeling it's the collection of fluid in the base of my skull where the patch is causing these issues again. Blacking out is new though. Any thoughts, advice, similar situations? I'm beyond frustrated as I do not plan on letting this run my life nor did I sign up to have brain surgery every other year.... Thanks for "listening". :o)