My mother was diagnosed with Chiari a year ago after years and years of varied symptoms of which doctors couldn't piece together for a proper diagnosis. I have some of the symptoms she does, although not as intense and not as many. I went to my doctor to get tested to rule out Chiari as a cause for my near-constant headaches. Some days these headaches are bad enough to make me nauseous; I also experience balance problems (and have since I was young), brain fog/was told I had ADD due to my concentration problems, neck and back pain, and infrequent ringing in the ears.
My MRI results came back saying I had "low-lying cerebral tonsils with no definite Chiari Malformation". To my understanding this means that they are not protruding far enough to be classified as Chiari. I have three questions related to this:
1. Do different doctors diagnose with different criteria, would it be worth getting a second opinion?
2. Would having low-lying tonsils themselves be the cause of my headaches and pains and could this worsen and develop into true Chiari?
3. Are pain killers going to be my only option for dealing with these constant headaches since I do not technically have any type of treatable condition?
Any and all help and insight would be greatly appreciated.