My name is Chris, I am a 40 year old bloke, married with two small children and I live in Cheshire UK. I was officially diagnosed with Chiari Malformation Type 1 and Syringomyelia in early January 2009.
I had Foramen Magnum Decompression surgery in early April of 2009 in an attempt to stop the progression of my symptoms caused by my 17mm herniation and my syrinx which covered C1 to C3.

Just like many others, when I was diagnosed I had never heard of either conditions, so I searched the internet to find some answers. What I did come across was a mix of information, some of it relevant, some of it not, some of it contradictory but mostly I found it very confusing and very scary.

In the early days, all I had to go on were the terms "Sirinx" and something called "Kiari" or something like that. I heard it being called Chiari Syndrome, Chiari 1, Arnold Chiari Malformation, Chiari Malformation, hind brain herniation and many other things. I read words and phrases like cerebellar tonsils, posterior fossa, vp shunt, occipital bone, vp shunt, nerve damage, cervical spine, brain stem, hydrocephalus and chiari decompression surgery.

None of that meant much to me until I started to read more and more articles, visit more and more websites and forums. I even read through spinal injury information and visited the related websites reading peoples stories and becoming generally confused and scared.

I eventually joined a forum where I found people in a similar situation to myself. At last, I had found people that knew exactly what I was going through, exactly how I felt and more importantly who had some of the basic answers to help me further my own research.
They gave me a lot of support and much needed hope that I could get through this and become far more practical in my approach.

My little oasis was http://www.chiari.co.uk and I will be forever indebted to them. That support continues to this date, and thankfully I am also able to repay that support by in turn helping the newer members that are in the same position that I once was.

This has lead to me building this site, to offer a place where people can have a basis upon which to build their own research and self help activities. I am not medically trained, therefore non of the information here is intended to replace any advice given to you by your Doctor, GP, Neurologist, Neurosurgeon or any other medical professional. I offer the help and support in this site as a means to answer a few basic questions, address some basic concerns and offer my personal experience and that of my fellow Chiarians on the most frequently asked questions when I meet a new Chiarian for the first time.

Thank you for visiting, and please feel free to add to the support that I offer by registering with us and joining in. Also, please feel free to ask any questions either in the comments section or by email.

Also, please sign up at the bottom of the page for the newsletter. There area a lot of exciting things happening in the world of Chiari at the moment and soon to be published official information and support from the NHS and other organisations that I am currently on the "pre-read" list for. Also, I will be launching my e-book and will be offering freebies to some members who do sign up.

I will also be running an incentive to win 2 weeks accommodation for free in a beautiful self catering apartment in Lanzarote. Sign up to the subscription service between now and the end of December 2009 to be eligible and be automatically entered into the free draw .

Thank you.

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Other Links that you may find interesting:

Chiari and Syringomyelia Symptoms
Rare or Just Uncommon?
So what is Chiari Malformation?
Glossary of Terms
My Twitter Profile