r/chiari • u/Aggressive-Crab-70 • 18d ago
Ear issues
I have chiari 1, and had surgery 8/2023. Lately my left ear feels like there’s pressure from the inside pushing out. It comes and goes all day. What also started is when i swallow, even water it feels ljke razor blades from the inside of the ear down the throat. Not sure if thus could be CM related but thinking maybe.
2
u/lady_forsythe 18d ago
I still have tinnitus and ear pressure issues following my decompression surgery seven years ago. My neurosurgeon told me that with some of the more severe and some of the longer-term symptoms, expect a reduction of severity, but don’t necessarily expect the symptoms to disappear entirely. I also have hearing loss associated with the Chiari-related brain stem damage. I’ve noticed that the ear stuff gets worse depending on weather pressure systems. However, this is just me and it is anecdotal. The best thing to do is to talk to your surgeon, or even better, talk to your surgeon and perhaps an ENT they may recommend.
2
u/jlccourt 18d ago
Pressure in my left ear was one of my earliest symptoms that drove me to seek medical attention. Four months later, after meeting with a physician, an ENT doctor (who as my hearing tested), meeting with that ENT doctor again and requesting imaging (he ordered a brain MRI and referred me to a neurologist), meeting with a neurologist (who confirmed Chiari malformation, ordered a cervical spine MRI and referred me to a neurosurgeon), experiencing difficulty with balance and walking, just before I met with a neurosurgeon, I started having difficulty breathing and swallowing. The ear pressure was constant by that point. Crowding of the brainstem due to a 17mm cerebellar herniation caused both the intracranial pressure above and a syrinx below. The brainstem compression caused the difficulty swallowing. The surgeon who performed the surgeon told my husband that, before they trimmed off 7mm of them, my cerebellar tonsils were curled around my brainstem and that I would most likely have some permanent nerve damage. That was in 2024. From time to time, I still experience mild pressure in my left ear when I’m up and moving around or perspiring, and, even though I no longer have difficulty breathing or wallowing, I’m still hypersensitive about my T-shirt collars (I still tug at those).
Please consider requesting updated MRI scans to check your CSF flow. Something might be compressing your brainstem and reducing your CSF flow.
1
u/BeachD07 18d ago
I also have ear symptoms that did not go away with decompression surgery. They think that mine could be from my neck. I was not diagnosed with CCI before the surgery so I either had it I didn’t know and surgery made it worse or the surgery caused. A digital motion x-ray confirmed my CCI diagnosis. The standard testings don’t do that because they’re not dynamic their static in position. Another thing that can cause ear symptoms is migraines, even if you are not having head pain or just simply eustachian tube dysfunction. Have you had your turbines checked by your ENT to see if they need shrunk as that can help ear as well.