famous people and chiari

[Guest guest]

To all,

This is in reference to Montel and his MS. Have any of you ever

seen his MS adds in magazines? His symptoms are very similar to chiari (thus,

oftentimes chiarians being diagnosed with possible MS prior to an MRI or other

tests)...pain, loss of vision, loss of balance. I know that chiarians don't get

optic neuritis, but we all know of individuals with blurred vision and

nystagmus, and of course the balance stuff, AND the pain.

Anyway, so what am I getting at? I think Montel would understand! As do a

lot of people who have MS understand chiarians. My best friend was diagnosed

with mono-symptomatic pre-MS (one lesion at C5) about a year before I was

diagnosed with chiari. We commiserate back and forth about our MRIs, etc. We

have so much in common it's unbelievable. She understands what it's like for me

to experience fatige and strange muscle symptoms, etc. Heck, half her body went

numb and limp at the drop of a hat one day! Now that is scary if you ask me.

Okay, so enough of my babbling. I think that we should advocate for more

awareness of chiari. It's more common that MS, but only about 50 percent I

would think are bothered by it enough to see a doctor about it. I would push

for more awareness. And I'd encourage Anne to write Montel again.

My 2 cents

Elena