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1663373 tn?1333635989

Post op questions

I am curious for those of you that have had surgery and headaches came back did they ever go away or does the chiari cycle continue?  I had no headaches after surgery until my 2 month mark and now it just keeps on a coming!! Am meeting with my Dr tomorrow and want to have an idea of what other people have gone through. Thanks!
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620923 tn?1452915648
COMMUNITY LEADER


Sorry to hear about the flooding, but better safe than traveling in that type of conditions.....Do keep us posted on the next visit : )

  "selma"
Helpful - 0
1664208 tn?1332782950
I didnt get to go to my NS appointment due to the freeway being closed. I live in arkansas & we have had some major flooding. I go back on the 25th & hope to have some good news. & again im glad i found all of you! You all understand the pain we face daily.
Helpful - 0
620923 tn?1452915648
COMMUNITY LEADER


  I am glad I could make u laugh, I hope it didn't hurt too much : P

  And I am glad to hear u have  a visit planned with another dr...hopefully not a pseudo one...lol....

  Please update us soon

  Good luck
   "selma"
Helpful - 0
1664208 tn?1332782950
Thank you for your reply. This wednesday i go back for my MRI, Cspine( ithink thats right) & norm one for the brain. I found a chiari Spec in jonesboro arkansas that is from the mayo clinic.Im trying to establish a appointment with him as well.  I never knew Arkansas had a spec until a few weeks ago. I will def have the pseudomeningocele looked at again. By the way Selma thanks for making me laugh! i think alot of us might have seen a few PseudoDrs! Im so glad i found this forum!
Helpful - 0
1667208 tn?1333107849
I agree with Selma!! Pseudo Dr.  . (very creative Selma)... find someone to take a look!  My Surgeon said that I should not have this 9 months after surgery so another surgery is my only option! He wants to replace or fix the patch depending on what he finds and he said he does believe my current headaches and issues are related to the pseudomeningocele because right after surgery I did not have these problems so he believes they developed when the pseudomeningocele did!  Sadly, all we can say on this board to so many people is keep looking for someone that really knows Chiari and is willing to listen!  I know I felt great the first months so I have high hopes that I can feel better again!  
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620923 tn?1452915648
COMMUNITY LEADER


It is not that if u should have had surgery that u should question, but the dr that is not treating ur pseudomeningocele.


A pseudomeningocele is an abnormal collection of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) that communicates with the CSF space around the brain or spinal cord. In contrast to a meningocele, in which the fluid is surrounded and confined by dura mater, in a pseudomeningocele, the fluid has no surrounding membrane but is contained in a cavity within the soft tissues.
Pseudomeningocele may result after brain surgery, spine surgery, or brachial plexus avulsion injury.
Treatment for pseudomeningocele is conservative or may involve neurosurgical repair.


Mayb ur dr was a pseudoDr??...what a joke to say that to u...once u have this taken care of u will feel much better, not perfect, but better.Find a true chiari specialist to help u.

  "selma"
Helpful - 0
1664208 tn?1332782950
I also have Chiari & pseudomeningocele. I was told by my NS that pseudomeningocele is just a word that means not real. Im 8 months post op & have way more problems then i had before i had surgery. I just had really bad headaches & was really off balance at times i had bad vertigo as well. Since i had surgery i was around 2 months post op when my head had lumps that looked like grapefruit thats when she said i had pseudomeningocele. Now i have bad headaches,I forget almost everything, i cant really do any house hold chores with out having to sit down for a hour in between. My arms,legs & back almost kill me everyday. Now im starting to have hearing problems out of my right ear so on & so on. I sometimes wonder if i should have even had surgery.
Helpful - 0
1663373 tn?1333635989
I was good until I started back to work full time and I am an occupational therapist working with kids so I move a lot I have been mindful of what I do and do think that I need to slow down luckily I get summers off so hoping I can really rehab then.  I noticed I do slouch a lot and have a degenerative joint in C4 so I am now sitting up!! Thanks for you insight!
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I did have a few headaches and some pressure in my head a couple of months after the surgery and I was afraid that all of the symptoms were going to come back, but they didn't.  I had to learn what I can and can't do, I had started running again about 3 months after the surgery and was doing some kickboxing.  I started to notice that the pressure in my head came after the times that I'd been exercising.  So now I'm careful not to lift things that are too heavy and I do forms of exercise that are lower impact.  Since I made those changes, I've only had a couple of headaches in the last year and those have been when I also had a sinus infection.  I also really try to watch my posture, as I had issues with discs in my neck being malformed and they told me to be mindful of the slouching.

I agree with Selma that it seemed to be tied to my healing process, although I was afraid that it was starting up again.  You might want to look at what kind of physical activities you are doing around the times that the headaches are coming and take it easy.

I hope you feel better soon!

Tina
Helpful - 0
1667208 tn?1333107849
I had a different type of headache and it turned out to be a pseudomeningocele, so not every headache at three months is just common.  It took me almost 9 more months to get a new MRI and now I am scheduled for surgery to fix things!  I had NO headaches after surgery until this problem.  My new headaches seemed very positional and that was new to me, when I say positional I mean from moving not just a head down position or bending over, just neck movement causes headaches easily.  
Helpful - 0
1673303 tn?1303982610
Am headaches do come back after the surgery but when time goes on they not gonna be as hard and painful as before.
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620923 tn?1452915648
COMMUNITY LEADER


It is typical for HA's and symptoms to resurface at 2 to 3 months post op, it is part of  the healing process...right now I am sure it does not feel that way, but as long as the HA's r not worse than b4 surgery u should be ok....

It is possible that u will continue to have HA's that cycle, but they may  or should hopefully get better as time goes by.

  "selma"
Helpful - 0
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