I realize this is an older thread, but newer responses are here and I wanted to offer my experience.

I had the decompression surgery 10/04. I also have a syrinx in my cervical spinal cord that has done severe damage. I'm in pain mgmt for the rest of my life, but it's ok. I can deal with that.

When I was in the hospital after surgery it was all good. Then they sent me home. By my 2nd day home I was in tears because the pain was so bad. I went into the dr's office and he asked, "Are you taking all the meds we sent home? The pain meds and steroids?" Well, they forgot to send home steroids. We filled that script fast and within an HOUR after taking it, I felt like I was actually going to live. There was still post surgery pain - I mean, hey, it was freaking brain surgery and they removed a piece of my spine, but the steroid reducing that swelling was the life-saver.

Through my sharing on the 'net, I've discovered that sometimes dr's don't think to send home that steroid script. And when asked and it's given, people are getting relief.

I'm not saying that's the case for the majority of the posters here, your continuing pain, long past initial recovery is something entirely different. My other advice is to find a really good pain management clinic. I'm on a boatload of meds, but I also have 6 diseases. But for the Chiari/Syrinx, the mix that works for me is Hydrocodone, Zonegran (I can't take Gapapentin in any form whether it's Neurontin, LYrica, etc. because it makes me psychotic - a KNOWN side effect dr's don't tell you about til you're about to kill yourself), a muscle relaxer and if I hadn't had gastric bypass (weight loss surgery) I'd be taking an anti-inflammatory - that's a life saver to people with ACM 1 and/or Syrinx.

I hope all who've had the surgery can find relief both in the short and long term. It's hard enough to have had to suffer from these debilitating diseases for so long, but when the recovery goes on and on...it can be disheartening. It also did me a lot of good to find a great therapist to help me deal.