leg weakness

[bbisweary]

Hi Everyone.  I was wondering if it is common to have severe leg weakness with CM?  I have had leg stifnness, ie, scooting, dragging a leg, etc. off and on for several years now.  But, for the last few months I have been having this weakness in my legs that causes my whole body to feel weak.  I have a small syrinx that has developed since my appt. w/ Dr. Di in April, could that cause it?  I'm really hoping I don't have something else going on.

Thanks,

Becky

[selmaS]

  It is very possible the back issues and the nerve damage was Chiari related....and if you had a CSF obstruction it is a good thing you had surgery as it will restore CSF flow and slow progression of a syrinx if one was present.

Surgery is no guarantee all symptoms will go away...it only is done to prevent symptoms from worsening and to restore flow of the CSF....

Did your Drs rule out related conditions?

[Heather2414]

I have nerve damage in both legs and feet,they have started me on lyrica 75 mg 3 x day.Since they have started me on it my legs feel good off and on but could this off and on be also from the chiari I don't know the level or anything I just having bad headaches they come and go though but mine are bad..I have have them seems straight for a month and then they could go away for 3 mos but when they come back they could be 5 x worse,I'm getting it rechecked on March 27th to see if the headaches are from the chiari... Now I'm wondering if the nerve damage and foot drop wasn't from the chiari instead of the back problem witch seems like now I got the surgery and didn't need it...

[*Stormy*]

Just wanted to add...muscles twitches and calve spasming were also another major symptom of mine. My calves were permanently toned...Also my feet would curl and cramp up everytime I relaxed and many times I would end up walking on my big toe because of the cramping in my foot.

Carolyn

[bbisweary]

I did have another MRI in June after a car wreck that gave me whiplash. (Like I needed that!) That is when the radiologist here in my small town reported a syrinx at C7.  I found it almost amusing that she reported the syrinx, but always give the CM an honorable mention only (she has read my rad reports several times since 2008, and doesn't measure the CM). Anyway, the leg weakness also comes with muscle spasms in my calves. Thanks for the info, I just wanted to make sure nothing else was going on. Did either of you get any better after the surgery?

[*Stormy*]

YES!!! It definitely can be caused by CM...I had and have a lot of leg involvement and in my case no syrinx was found!! For me my symptoms started with swallowing issues, neck pain, then arm weakness and going to my dr got no result (so it was left to get worse). My ankle started stiffening off and on, along with this wobbly feeling that would come and go in my legs. One day it came back and progressed rapidly, starting with the feeling of my leg dragging, to my left leg stiffening making me limp, my legs got extremely weak to the point it was hard to walk up a hill or stairs...and then very quickly my right leg started to follow too. Post op I still have a lot of walking issues causing pain and an unstable gait a lot due to being left for so long and the damage that occured....so don't ignore this!!!

If you have any other questions about it, feel free to ask!
Carolyn

[rod44]

Hi Becky. I agree with selma, it could be due to the CM, SM or a combination of the twoI have this problem, in fact it started in 1994 but in the past few years has gotten progressively  worse especially from the knee down. I have CM  and a Syrinx C7 > T3

Ray