Welcome To Chiari Awareness

 

November 17, 2007, 07:52:50 PM by Samantha My name is Samantha Howard. ACM has been affecting my way & quality of life for 10 years so far, and up until 2 years ago I struggled to find out what was causing all my pain and symptoms. I, Like many others with this condition, was passed around doctor to doctor, called crazy, but most generally the doctor has something like depression for an excuse for my pain and crazy symptoms. Once I found out I had ACM, my doctor said "don't go jumping on trampolines or riding any roller coasters and go Google chiari." From then till now everything I know about chiari is from personal research at support groups. There sadly just isn't enough chiari doctors out there that can treat it well enough.



Where I live, if I have a chiari related emergency, going to my local hospital ER is out of the question. I learned that the hard way. I once went there late at night in an extreme amount of pain (even more than usual). I got called a crazy liar by a nurse who believed chiari is something I made up because she had never heard of it before. Seeing the doctor later didn't make a difference either. He said that I just needed to call my Neurosurgeon the next day because he couldn't treat something that he doesn't know enough about. I respected his honesty, but in the amount of pain I was in at the time, his response was very frustrating.



My point is also the main reason I started this site. We desperately need more awareness. More doctors need to know at least the main information about Chiari. More research needs to be done. With more awareness we have a better chance of getting a good doctor to find, diagnose, and treat Chiari.



My goals and dreams for this site is that:
1.) People have more places to go when they need someone to talk to,
2.) We raise more awareness
3.) We learn more about Chiari
4.) We help others understand Chiari
5.) We bring all the chiari resources in one convenient place that it can be found
6.) That at least someone everyday gets the help they need.



I have placed a forum on this site where you can become a member and talk to others affected by Chiari. There's links to support groups, other websites, and even Chiari books. We also plan to have updated Chiari related news at least once a week. There's Doctors lists for neurologists and neurosurgeons in the US. And we plan to add new information as its discovered. Thank you for visiting. And we hope you enjoy ChiariAwareness.com

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