Has anyone on here

[bookworm79]

ever done the surgery if they had no blockage?

[bookworm79]

Hmmm...no answers.  I'm thinking maybe not.

[selmaS]

I was trying to think about this one and every time I came back to , but no that is an obstruction...so, hmmmm I can not think of ne...it just may be a diff reason for the obstruction, such as the odontoid being retroflexed....which we refer to when we ask about overcrowding....it does not imply the tonsils are in the way, it means the odontoid bone is turned or arched the wrong way causing a smaller opening at the foramen magnum.....when u add the herniated tonsils it gets rather tight.But just the odontoid could cause a CSF obstruction and a syrinx to form and there could be no herniation....or one that fits the criteria of 5mm or larger.

  "selma"

[bookworm79]

Ah I see.  I didn't even think about all the different ways of blockage and I should have.  I think I was thinking in my mind it was all just 1 blockage but I keep forgetting that there are so many facets of this that there is no one size fits all.  

[selmaS]

  This is y I say it is not the size of the herniation that matters, only if u have an obstruction, bcuz the obstruction can come from something other then the tonsils and just bcuz the tonsils are long does not mean they are going to create an obstruction....as I have mentioned b4, not sure u saw it, but imagine the base of the skull like a funnel....and the tonsils like a long piece of shoe string licorice....no matter how long it is it may not block fluid from flowing...if it is wider tho and short like an upside down gumdrop it can cork it up but good...

But now throw in the long licorice again with the odontoid issue, saw a preztel stick in there as well if it is curved a certain way and off to the side it still may not pose an issue, but change the direction of the stick....

This is easy to see...take ur thumb and pointer finger and make a circle.... make it small so that ur thumb goes up to the first knuckle after ur finger nail...the hole should be filled with ur other thumb...but use ur other pointer finger, curve the finger and look at how u move it how it changes the size of the opening....
This can  and is what happens with a retroflexed odontoid, it in itself is enuff to block CSF....and too many NS just look to see how long the tonsils are, that does not make sense....

   "selma"

[linnielou232]

I was just as flustrated at you were because dr's sometime's as Selma say's they look at the lenght not the obstruction.  I finally found a Dr that would listen and hear how much my life was affected by the obstruction, and I did have the surgery which I don't reget at all.  The healing process for some of us is a long road.  I had 4 surgeries all together, which if I only would of had one I probably would of been o.k. but it doesn't work that way for some of us unfortunaly.  I just pray that you will find the right dr. that will listen to you.  Wish you the best in finding the answer's you need to find.