Over a year since surgery

Most do, usually sooner.  Decompression surgery provided less than 4 weeks of symptom relief for me, but Tight Filum Terminal Dissectum (form of tethered cord surgery) got me out of bed after 2-1/2 years and gave me HOPE.  Do your research.  Three US neurosurgeons perform a version of this: Dr. Heffez, Dr. Bolognese, Dr. Frasier Henderson, and one in Spain: Dr. Salvador.  A GoFund set up by friends and family got my wife and I to Spain to have the surgery; pretesting done in US.  Tried to get appointments with the US surgeons mentioned above but would take a year of more for whole process (initial appt., testing, surgery) and was not covered by my insurance, so from start to finish took 6 weeks for the Barcelona route.  Do your research.  Steve

So a year past had my appointment with tge symtoms i have neurosurgeon has said theyr worrien but nothin he can do so go on with them and keep taking my medication n just deal with it great help pains in head dizzy when put hed back total just feel crap but yet its nothing to do with my chiari

Decompression surgery does not get rid of cause because it is meant to only create more room in the junction where the hindbrain and spinal cord meet, and medicine is a bandaid and also does nothing to remove the cause.  I had decompression surgery with no relief from symptoms, but then had the surgery that removes the cause: filum terminal dissectum.  Think of Chiari (hindbrain tonsils) as a cork that is reducing flow in that area and is caused by the tight spinal cord pulling down on said hindbrain...if you release the tightness on the hindbrain you now are on the way to upward migration of the hindbrain.  Dr. Paolo Bolognese, and New York neurosurgeon used followup MRI's on hundreds of patients having had the release surgery (filum terminal dissectum) and average of 3.5 mm upward migration of Chiari herniation!!!  With Chiari being medically described as 5 mm, that is nothing short of miraculous.  After I had the release surgery (Dr. Salvador in Spain) I eventually got out of the bed after 2-1/2 years and am living life fully!  Three doctors in US do this: Dr. Heffez in Wisconsin, Dr. Fraser Henderson in Maryland, Dr. Bolognese; one in Spain: Dr. Miguel Salvador.  Do your research and NEVER GIVE UP.

Sent a reply, but for some reason it was not posted.  From the time my wife and I decided on Spain for the surgery (we live in Mississippi) it took 6 weeks for passports, plane tickets, and pretesting, the actual surgery in Spain, the post-op visit there and the trip back to the US.  Ironically, It would have taken up to a year or more to do the surgery here in the US because it would have required 4 separate trips to New York or Maryland or Wisconsin for initial visit, testing there, pre-surgery office appointment, then surgery.  One trip to Spain for all the same (pre-testing done here in Mississippi).  A GoFund set up by church and friends helped offset costs.  Dr. Salvador, in Spain, is the neurosurgeon who started doing these surgeries and then perfected the process, with the US following suit almost a decade later.  We should start to see more awareness and more education and more neurosurgeons with the mindset of getting rid of the CAUSE with the 45 minute Filum dissection surgery as opposed to the 5 hour traumatic cranial decompression.  I have had both surgeries and would never have had the decompression had I initially done my homework about the safe form of tethered cord surgery that got me out of bed after 2-1/2 years and is now allowing me to serve others, raise my children and forever know that the CAUSE is gone. You are worth it, so do your research now, that way if you ever decide you cannot live with sickness anymore you know what the process is.  God Bless, Steve

Current US accepted rate of 15% of Chiarians can find that their syndrome is caused by a tethered cord, ie a downard pull on the hindbrain causes the Chiari. However, many patients find that after an MRI to check for tethered cord, the result is "negative", when in reality OCTS (occult tethered cord syndrome) is a growing accepted entity...the tightness of the spinal cord is indeed pulling down on the hindbrain causing the herniation. Dr. Royo Salvador, a neurosurgeon at the Institute of Chiari in Barcelona, Spain found that doing the tethered cord surgery for patients (they also had Chiari) with scoliosis, syringomelia and tethered cord, symptoms for Chiari either were impoved or would go away. He then started doing a less traumatic form of tethered cord surgery for said Chiari, and again the results where dramatic. He feels that MOST Chairi herniations are caused by a "tight" spinal cord, not a mere 15%. My MRI came back negative, buy I am living proof that this surgery not only removes the cause, but can allow the herniation to migrate UPWARDS as shown by the follow up MRI's that a neurosurgeon (Dr. Paolo Bolognese) did for hundreds of his patients that he also did the Tight Filum Terminale Sugery on. Research!