Originally Posted by hmarie18

Hi everyone,

While Im not new to this site, I new to Chiari... Im not even sure if I have it!... Here is my story...

I was in a car accident... oct 2011

I had an epidural steroid injection in c56- and c67....although it went horribly wrong! Right when the needle was inserted I had electrifying pain radiating everywhere! I was so bad, I was crying, sobbing, just awful...

Day later I lost the complete function of my right hand and arm...My neck pain was way wrose and I had a slight head ache...

A few weeks later, My arm came back to life, the headache went away on its own... I have headaches pretty often, at one point they were so unbearable for months I was in and out of the hospital for them this was before the accident...they have subsided since then, I get them occasionally at this point....

My neck pain is still worse, I also have bad pain in my lower back...Alot of shoooting pain, numbness in 2 toes on my left foot, tingling and sometimes numbness in fingers on my right hand, the feeling of a bug crawling down my legs and a few other symptoms...

Just had another mri done, in the report it stated I have a cerebellar tonsillar ectopia... Im not sure if this means I have Chiari... I have the scan and have used the measuring tool and it seems to be 9mm herniated....

Can anyone tell me if this is the cause of my pain? or my symptoms? and is there any way this brain herniation was a cause of either the accident or the injection? Ive been worse since the injection... Or is there a way to tell if I was born with this herniation or if it was from either of the traumas? Also where should I go from here?

I see a pain dr... He doesnt seem to be helping.... He is proving some pain relief with meds, but thas it...

Also a few days ago I was holding my vaccuum above my head with my left arm so I could vaccuum the window sill with the attachment in my right hand, and all of a sudden my left arm muscle stopped working and the weight of the vaccuum pullled my arm down very quickly and wound up dislocating my shoulder..... is this bc of my condition?

Also in my mri I have slight encroachment at every level from c23 down to c56... and a disc protruding at c45 the contacts the cord, a disc protruding at c56 that contacts and flattens the cord and a small disc bulge at c67....

Any info, advice, or whatever is greatly appreciated!!!