I Have Arnold-chiari Malformation, Type 1
Last year in 2009 I was having alot of muscle aches and weakness, along with headaches and chronic fatigue. I had always been a migraine suffererer, and had just gone off a strong antidepressant and back to other antidepressant since I ran out. I figured out that my pain and things was probably attributed to going off Cymbalta cold turkey(Which by the way, one should never, ever do if they can help it). Anyway, I had an MRI last June to determine if Ilhad MS or something, and no MS, but MRI said possible Chiari 1 malformation. When i found that out, i kinda freaked. I looked up all that there was to look up and my symptoms really matched up to what describes this malformation. I was referred to a neurologist, who just gave me a boatload of migraine meds and did an EMG, ran some xrays, and gave me no feedback whatsoever. I thought, that I really just had it all in my head. I let it go for a while and this past two weeks I have really been on a rollercoaster.
I went to an Orthopedic doctor, because I had injured my knee skiing this past winter and have a habitual thing of twisting my ankles. He looked at me and said"there is just something not right about you". RIght then, I started to wonder, what the heck is going on? My knee wasn't that bad, and maybe my "neurological problem" caused me to twist my ankles. I didnt know. I followed up with my primary doc, the same day because I made an appointment with her for some back problems I had been having. Since the two are in the same office, they talked a while first, and she came in and said, " we really need to look into this". To make a long story short, she ordered some blood work, and three MRI's, two of which I have had already. They showed a possible Chiari malformation in addition to a cervical disc bulge at C6. From my research and comparing my symptoms, THis really does pinpoint it pretty clearly.
Now, I have an appointment with a different neurologist in a few weeks, so I really would like to see what he has to say. The other neurologist didn't seems to care much about anything, so I wasn't truly impressed with him at all. I shall see what this new guy says and if he refers me to a different person.
HMMM, what to think what to think???/
