I am new to this site and have just been diagnosed with syrinx from my orthopeic surgeon, I have to see a neuro surgeon next week. I have been suffering for years with severe headaches and other problems with my hands and chest pains, among other things.. I am afraid. I do not know if I have chiari. But let me say before the Orthopeic dr diagnosed me I was in the hospital because of the head aches and vomiting. and that is when they did the mri, But no one of those dr.s told me about this at all. I even seen a neurologist in the hospital and no word of this Syrinx at all... And it was the first time, that I had seen this orthopedic Dr. I was there over 21/2 hours and was wondering why, well now I know it was because he was studying the MRI and the results..and he came in the room and told me I had Syrinx from c1 to c4... I am so axious over this that I cannot sleep.... and I am on pain meds which are helping the headaches a little and neausea meds.. but still symptoms are there.. and not the anxiety of it all it horrible... please does anyone know that if I have this Syrinx from c1 to c4 does this mean that I have the chiari also... Please and Thank you all for listening to my ranting...

No, that doesn't automatically mean you have Chiari.

Chiari is when brain tissue protrudes into your spinal canal. It occurs when part of your skull is abnormally small or misshapen, pressing on your brain and forcing it downward.

Did the doctors tell you if your cerebellar tonsils are protruding and if so by how much?

i am 17 years old and in August of 2012 i had been diagnosed with chiari malformation. i have a syrinx at the top of my spinal cord and another one right about a herniated disc that i have in the t-12 region....... my symptoms include extremly bad headaches, neck pains, shooting pains down my spine, and numbness to the point of brief paralysis in my legs..... i met with an amazing neurosuregon at New York Presbyterian Hostpial in the Cornell Weil College...... my decompression surgery is set for Decemeber 19th 2012..... just 20 days away...... my nerves are through the roof and im praying i dont have a bad experience with recovery......... after all i am 17 years old and all i want is to be able to live my life normally again because my symptoms have taken me out of work and leave me home from school plenty of days......bottom line is my life is no longer the same....

Does anyone have any tips for me of what i should do before or after surgery to help with my recovery and procedure? im still so young and am extremely nervous for this whole scenario!!! PLEASE HELP!