Have you seen this yet? (re: FMS, CFS, etc.)

[Guest guest]

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS YET? INTERESTING........

Spine, skull surgery may help many with CFIDS, FMS:

Chiari malformation or cervical stenosis may be common

in CFIDS & fibromyalgia

Spine, skull surgery may help many with CFIDS, FMS:

Chiari malformation or squeezing of spinal cord may be common in CFIDS,

fibromyalgia.

By Hoh ( Hoh is editor of The CFIDS Chronicle)

The CFIDS Chronicle, May/June 1999 pages 10-12

Copyright © 1999 The CFIDS Association of America, Inc., PO Box 220398,

Charlotte, NC 28222-0398 (800) 44-CFIDS.

Reprinted here with permission.

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For some patients with CFIDS and fibromyalgia, the crux of their problems may be

all in the backs of their heads.

New research is focusing attention on neurological conditions in which the brain

stem or upper portion of the spinal cord is compressed. All the signals that go

from the brain to the body and vice versa must pass through this narrow

passageway, just about a half an inch in diameter. When this nerve passageway is

squeezed, a person can experience the same assortment of symptoms that are

familiar to persons with CFIDS and fibromyalgia [see list at end of article].

The best known of these conditions is the Chiari malformation, in which the

cerebellar " tonsils " (a portion of the cerebellum, shaped like the tonsils in

the neck) extend several millimeters through the opening in the base of the

skull (the foramen magnum) that allows the spinal cord to attach to the brain.

This puts pressure on the brain stem and spinal cord. In a less well recognized

but perhaps much more common condition known as cervical stenosis, the spinal

canal appears normal but is actually too narrow for the spinal cord. Sometimes a

condition called syringomyelia develops, in which a cyst grows in the spinal

canal, putting greater pressure on the spinal cord.

Symptoms from these conditions often don't develop until adulthood, when the

compression may grow more severe or may be triggered by an injury such as

whip-lash, surgery that involves hyperextending the neck, or prolonged coughing.

Thus, onset of symptoms may be gradual or sudden. And symptoms may vary widely

according to the individual.

Sound familiar? Difficult diagnosis, vague symptoms - but there is an enormous

benefit to patients when this diagnosis can be made. There is an accepted and

generally effective treatment.

Treatment for these conditions is surgery to expand the space available for the

brain stem and spinal cord. This is done by removing bone from the skull and/or

the cervical (top seven) vertebrae. Neurosurgeons who perform the surgery report

that most patients experience significant and broad improvement of symptoms,

beginning almost immediately following surgery and progressing with time as the

spinal cord recovers from the compression. While it is not at all clear whether

surgery can relieve all the symptoms associated with CFIDS and fibromyalgia,

some fibromyalgia patients who have undergone the decompression surgery have

reported that their tender points completely disappeared.

" We're very hopeful that this will be the first real, viable treatment for many

people, " said Rae Gleason, director

~ " If I could reach up and hold a star for every time you've made me smile, the

entire evening sky would be in the palm of my hand. "