does herniated mm = pain?

[PrincessBratt09]

im just wondering if your pain is directly related to the mm of your herniation
i ask bcuz the pain seems to be increasing, so does that mean my herniation is larger than previously reported?

[Shane99]

It's important not to dismiss the size of the herniation though. Chiari 1 is a matter of your cerebellum being squeezed out of your skull into your spinal canal. The size of the herniation is a good indicator of how much force the squeezing is undergoing. While some people have more symptoms with smaller herniations, the larger the herniation the quicker something serious can develop.

[PrincessBratt09]

hey girl....thanks for your input.it all really does make more and more sense to me now. i agree with you...from about november til april i had all the long list of symptoms everyone talks about, the extremity parasthesis, ears ringing so loud, slurred speech, nausea, etc etc along with occasional bad head pain. i had the ct scan and mri which showed me at 3-4 mm (seems the docs not familiar with cm DO base everythingj on the mm not the symptoms or csf flow or the dangers long term of just brushing the whole thing off as nuttin. which is so sad!)
and now , snce end of april thru this month, alot of the long list of neuro symptoms have decreased or diminished but what totally took over is this extreme head pain. not like headaches, but constant head pain horrible when i wake slightly more bearable thru the day and im sure im gettin used to it and still must function as a mom etc....but as day goes on and into the evening, im worth nothing. i can just feel it hurting more, that invisible person standing behind me everywehre i go slamming that iron fry pan at the backof my head....harder n harder!! i just want to goto sleep and its near impossible to get comfortable with the trhrobbing head even laying down...often i cry myself to sleep from the pain, ad lay there tellin myself not to cry and tryin not to cry cuz we all know that only makes it hurt that much more when ya cry but just cant help it......so sad but so true.
you all are the only people ive crossed paths with that understand and the fact that noone else around me understands, just makes it that much harder to cope.

[ThePeachy1]

Hey there, well I am definately not a specialist and haven't even seen a real Chiari specialist yet so I can only tell you my experience and what I have found out from the wondeful people I refer to as my fellow Chiarians.  In 2003 I started having serious neuro issues walking/talking, memory, bascially I looked and acted like I was having a stroke, at first they were 1 or 2  a month accompinied with intense pain in my head, then over the next few years, hearing, noises, visual issues and the list goes on,  I actually have an entire 10 month period that I do not hardly remember because it was so constant.  Dr's said migraines and vitamin issues live with it. The Dr's ran test after test after test.  Then over the last 10 months or so, basically normal life, I mean headaches and stuff but neuro pretty much ok. I had a wierd visual thing and they started tests again, came foward and told me this MRI showed 9mm,  and the old MRI showed 5mm when I was at my worst.  In fact I kinda was hesitant to follow up with a specialist once I researched a bit and found out there was no finite cure, I mean I am so much better than I was when I was 5mm, then Selma gave me a wonderful explanation, it makes perfect sense, and I totally am following up with a specialist, and you should too, I dont think the mm is the key here, I speak from experience that my life was horrible at less than 5mm, and pretty darn near normal at 9mm, dont know if this is the normal, if there is a norm. But dont let the size be the judge of if you are going to seek further help

[selmaS]

Hi....not really....some can have extremely lg herniations with no symptoms at all.And then there r thos with a very small herniation with alot of pain and symptoms.

From the way I understand alot has to do with CSF flow...if it gets blocked and how crowded it is....the crowding and lack of proper flow puts the pressure on the nerves causing the pain and other symptoms.

It could be larger, or wider.....or as u move about in ur daily life csrtain things  like a car ride getting bumped into can be a trigger....depending on how long it has been since ur last MRI...u may need to get another one.

"selma"