Tip that may help some people

Hello all,

I just wanted to share my Chiari experiences, as I feel like my journey could help at least a few people. To be short, I was diagnosed with Chiari about 5 years ago after experiencing severe head-pressure headaches (so much so that I could barely function). I had other symptoms as well (such as brain fog and balance issues) however the head pressure was the worst symptom.

A doctor at Penn Medicine said that he could operate. I think it was going to be decompression surgery, however, at the last moment he said that my malformation was not large enough, and that he could not operate. Considering the level of my symptoms, I was devastated by this news. I then sought a second opinion with a Chiari specialist in New York, Doctor Paolo A. Bolognese. He was SUPER knowledgeable, and confirmed that even a small malformation could cause the severe symptoms that I was experiencing. At that point, I was very interested in getting surgery with him, however, he was out-of-network and I did not have the money to pay, so I could not get the surgery (for anyone interested, i would definitely recommend seeing Doctor Bolognese. Even if just for a consultation, he has seen thousands of cases, and can be helpful to talk with).

Shortly thereafter, on a forum like this, I saw someone talking about an anti-inflammatory, low-carb diet as a solution to some Chiari symptoms. Being as desperate as I was, I was willing to try anything, and started implementing the diet right away. Amazingly, it actually helped with my head pressure, and I continue with the diet to this day. I am not overly extreme with it (i.e. i eat food with higher carbs sometimes), however, on MOST days i do not eat carb-heavy foods like bananas, potatoes, sweet potatoes, watermelon, apples, oranges, grapes, plantains, rice, bread, candy, chips, and cookies. As you can see, even if the food is generally considered healthy (like a banana or sweet potato), I still try to NOT eat the food too much if it has a high-carb content. I have even found that my head pressure starts to slowly return when I star eating too much of these foods again.

It is important to note that, for me, this dietary change really only helped improve my head pressure. It did not help improve my brain fog or balance issues too much (which I still experience).

I know that everyone on this forum has vastly different symptoms, and that head-pressure headaches might not even be a symptom for some of you. However, as someone whose life was being severely hurt by this disease (and by the head-pressure symptom in particular), I felt that I had an obligation to post this in the hopes that it can help even a few people.

All the best and much love.

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