New Member

[Guest guest]

Hi! My name is and I am new to this group. I am post-op 4

months where I received a Posterior decompression with cervical

laminectomy. I am back at work and seem to be doing okay, but new

symptoms have appeared and I am finding from reading that this could be

normal? Do I call my NSG when new symptoms appear? I was having a lot

of tingling or crawly feeling, but am now taking neurontin and it is

controlling the problem quite well. I do have the crawly feeling on

occasion, but overall things are much better. My neck, however, is

very stiff and I do have pain across my right shoulder as I did have

before surgery. At my 3 month check up, my syrinx (CI-TI, large in

width) has deflated a little, but has a ways to go. My NSG at Duke said

that it may never collapse, but stabilization is the key. Does this

mean that I will have annoying symptoms forever? Currently, in

addition to the tingling, I have sinus pressure at times, visual

disturbance with light at night, sensations in legs, shooting pain in

hands, and spastic nerves in back. The physical therapy is helping

contrary to what others have experienced. Following surgery I had to

wear a soft collar due to long skinny neck. I had no symptoms

following surgery until I returned back to work. The NSG things that

the patch in neck from decompression may be aggrivating nerves. Are

these common symptoms that people experience daily or should I be more

proactive and call the surgeon? I certainly do not want things to get

worse, are these mild symtoms? I worry about calling surgeon because I

do not want to appear like I am losing my mind. I tend to think that

hypochondriacs are listened to to a certain extent, but over time loose

credibility with doc. This is only observation as this is the first

health problem I have ever experienced and I am 29 yrs. old. I was

diagonsed in June 1999 following what I thought was a kickboxing

injury, right arm kept going numb. The PCP treated me one month for

pulled muscle in shoulder, then slipped disk in neck. When all meds

failed the MRI was ordered. I had surgery 1 1/2 month later, only

because it took me this long to get into Duke. I live in Raleigh and

now feel very fortunate to be close to a good hospital. Not to mention

my surgeon. He is great, but is not going to listen to mental duress. I

can't say that I blame him; he deals with people experiencing

life-threatening brain problems 10 times a day. My husband is,

therefore, where I vent most often. I am glad to have found this site

to share with others who experience daily idiosyncracies of this

disease. I have a hard time understanding if it is coming from syringo

or chiari. My herniation is 7mm, so the surgeon thinks the syringo is

creating the symptoms, nerve damage. I do have pain, but it is not

severe. I can still function normally-I just can't do high intensity

exercise, aerobics, etc. I feel fortunate so far, but will I have

hearing problems, gag reflex, vertigo in the future? I am just

concerned and confused. Thank you for reading and please respond if you

can.

in Raleigh, NC

PS. Are there others in the Raleigh, Durham area?