Very new to all of this. My daughter, 8, just had chiari decompression surgery with CI laminectomy and duraplasty. Her only symptom was chronic neck pain. No evidence of any spinal damage or syrinx/syringomyelia. I chose to do the surgery to stop this from happening and hopefully fix her pain. I have read, the fewer the symptoms, the more successful the surgery. This is NOT something my neurosurgeon said, and I'm not really sure where I read it. Anyone heard this before? I am SO sorry for those of you that have had "unsuccessful" operations/return of symptoms. I pray for you all and ask that you all pray for my little girl.

I'm 3 years post decompression and shunt surgery. All my symptoms are back and more. I get the feeling you've given up. Is there no point in continuing to try to get help? No meds work, just make me feel worse. This isn't living. I think of all, the nausea is the worst. Unrelenting. I keep living for those occasional "good" days.

I had my 1st surgery in July 2009. I was much better for a while, then slowly grew a large, squishy, lump on the back of my head Filled with cfs. Had a second surgery over Thanksgiving. The patch "failed". My new patch is bovine. For 2 months I truly felt I was going to die... Had a 8 day stay in hosp. after an emergency ambulance trip to said hosp. in Feb1019. Seizures, short term memory loss, balance problems, "word salad" total confusion. Can't drive, can't take long walks.