First of all... your stories, experiences, and perseverance is inspirational and I wish you the best in dealing with these often difficult symptoms.

I'm new to Chiari and am hoping to learn as much as possible from you kind folks. I've always been very active with excellent fitness (cardio-wise), riding 7000+ miles yearly in cycling events, up steep mountains and such. I'm happy to say my life has been peaceful and mostly stress-free, and I live a normally very healthy life with my equally active wife. As a youth, I played a variety of sports, mostly baseball and tennis, and never experienced anything odd. Now at 44, and still active, I began experiencing slight balance issues and sometimes difficulty focusing my vision as of 6 months ago. My PCP, ENT, and a PT thought this was some sort of a vestibular (inner ear) issue, but a January 08 MRI showed Chiari I with 8-9mm.

My coordination/balance issues are fairly mild but very from day-to-day. Most folks wouldn't know anything was even going on, but I definitely feel it. One day I stepped out of bed, loss my balance, and fell into our nightstand. A couple of weeks ago, I had difficulty focusing on the road while driving through a stretch of road that was sunny-shady-sunny-shade due to the bright sunshine flashing through a bunch of naked trees. That last a few minutes and I almost had to pull over as I slowed my driving. A year ago I began experiencing muscle cramps regularly on the tops of my feet during my bike rides. Last Summer I began feeling intense pain in the main joint of both big toes. Last week, I watched my little toe twitch into this awkward position, almost like it'd become dislocated, then it popped back into place... all by itself. A lot of this is actually funny and could just be me getting older, but I can't help but wonder if it these are the beginnings of something more serious yet to come. Three days ago we went bicycling for 3+ hours, felt great, and the next morning I awoke with an amazing pain in the side of my neck which is just now allowing me to move a little more freely.

Looking back now, other things that seem suspicious are how in my mid-20s I developed sea-sickness on half-day deep sea fishing ships after having no problem in my early 20's. And, I've always had to pause for a couple of seconds when getting up quickly, due to a dizzy feeling (which my PT believe might be due to my low blood pressure and low heartrate).

I've seen a neurologist which has examined by MRI and believes I have Chiari Type I, and I'm seeing a well-known neurosurgeon in 2 days to get his thoughts.

Do I need to take a chill-pill or is there a realistic possibility that my life and activities will soon be changing significantly. Did some of you begin with similar symptoms? Did any of you began seeing your first symptoms in your 40's, like I am? Did these symptoms ever stabilize or go away? Do you suggest backing off on intense cycling workouts, heavy lifting, etc.

I apologize for the long post, and appreciate any of your thoughts. Best wishes to you all.