arnold chiari and cervical spinal stenosis

I have just been diagnosed as a 48 year old adult with arnold chiari and cervical spinal stenosis.  I have carpal tunnel in both hands and have been having neck pain,  eye pain , numbness in my throat when swallowing. This seems to have come on suddenly over about 3 weeks and led up to MRI that found this. I have recently have been having blood pressure 176/110 , etc . I went to my neurologist and he gave me lortab and said that it would lower when the pain went away. I also have rheumatoid arthritis and am on plaquenil for that.  My rheumatologist was the one that ordered the MRI and just sent my to the pain clinic and to the neurologist. I went to the family doctor 2 days ago with my blood pressure and he gave me pill that so far isn't bringing my pressure down. I have 4 children and am getting scared to say the least. I have to drive and take care of them and it is a little hard to do with what I am going through. Please, I have tried to investigate what is going on with me, but can't make head or tails of anything or what to expect or who to see. Can anyone, provide me with any information that might help? Thanks!

[selmaS]

  Hi and welcome to the Chiari forum.

  Chiari it self it a very varied condition as symptoms can range from RA to GERD, numbness and balance issues,HA's of course, vision issues,heart palps, even BP issues as some of us do have ICP or POTS along with Chiari...those with Chiari are prone to also have connective tissue disorders and auto immune issues like RA, hashimoto's....

  U will want to have testing to check for obstruction of ur CSF, and see which of the related issues u may have, and make sure u educate urself and find a true chiari specialist.

We do have a list of Drs for u to use to research Drs, it is not a referral....

Keep asking questions <3

[hebearshebear]

I am sorry to be stupid on this issue , but what is CSF? I am suppose to go back to Dr. tomorrow to check the blood pressure. I am in a lot of pain all the way down my back , shoulders, neck and don't have another appointment until dec. 11 with a second neurologist. I would like a list of neurologists that specialize in this. I like my RA doctor, but she has referred me because she doesn't handle the arnold chiari . I just keep taking the lortab.

[selmaS]

  No worries, no way to know unless u ask...CSF is cerebral spinal fluid and it needs to flow freely....

  Were u ever in a MVA or have a fall?

  Use this link to find the Health Page with the List of Drs...as I said not all may be true specialists so u do need to do research on the Drs.
http://www.medhelp.org/health_pages/list?cid=186

BTW this is a list of NS not NL's...did ur rheumatoid Dr check u for EDS?

[hebearshebear]

Yes , I have had a injury to my lower back , but it has been like 13 years ago. I had a milogram when all of this started. They just told me that I had degenerative disc disease  and I continued to see the neurologist. I continued with pain in my lower back and hips, (started when I was pregnant with twins ) . I then noticed that I was waking up with stiff fingers, then feet, then having eye problems. I went to bone dr for feet, eye dr for eyes, neurologist, etc. Finally I was referred to an arthritis dr. in a different town. I have been seeing her for about a year. I was placed on plaquenil but didn't take it at first. I started worsening. I started hurting in my neck , so my arthritis dr. did an mri and found arnold chiari malformation and multi level cervical stenosis. She referred me to a neurologist. I went and he said that they were going to watch to chiari and he was most concerned with the neck. I had a spike in blood pressure before I went to the neurologist , and went to the family dr. who put me on blood pressure meds. The neurologist is now referring me to a neurosurgeon for the stenosis. I have been taking the plaquenil since Oct. 10 (generic) and the last couple of days have had severe itching. I don't know anyone that has RA and all of this is scaring me. I have small children that I have to take care of and all of this expense and no support. I can't rest when I need to because no one understands.  I am not even sure I do.

[hebearshebear]

What is EDS?

[selmaS]

  EDS = Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome....it is a related condition and can explain disk issues as it causes joint issues since the connective tissues do not hold the joints in place, then our muscles work overtime trying to hold us in place and we get muscle spasms.....many of us bruise easy and are slow to heal.....