Chiari / Overcoming insomnia

January 2, 2006

Recently our family has had to deal with a chiari diagnosis. When

researching the issue I found this book about a guy who was diagnosed

book in one day - it was pretty good - especially if you have chiari

or insomnia or are interested in running.

His insomnia is so severe that it sounds like he may have other issues

as well. Basically he lived his whole life without much issue but

then became symptomatic. The symptoms progressed to the point that he

could barely walk at one point and went something like 8 days with no

sleep. He had to pretty much battle the medical system for a correct

diagnosis and wound up having surgery for the chiari. Since then he

has recovered to the point that he has been able to run a marathon -

but I think he is still struggling with the insomnia. It was pretty

fascinating reading about all of the medications and combinations that

he has tried and the impact of them all. It was also encouraging to

read about his determination to overcome all of it. He actually ran

his first marathon after the surgery after having no sleep the night

before.

January 5, 2006

Chiari??????? What is this? Isn't there something called the " Chiari

Malformation " ? Isn't that a group of blood vessels that are in a basic

circle at the back of the brain? I'm pulling this from somewhere out of my

readings on the brain and problems that couldn't be corrected by surgery yrs

ago, in that part of the brain. I believe I got this from that ancient

Merck Manual I still have. So there is now a surgery for that intricate

part of the brain? The Chiari Formation, I believe leads into the back of

the brain, coming off of the upper part of the spinal nerves, above the

Cortex of the brain. I must have not read another post you had on this, I

guess.

Chiari / Overcoming insomnia

> Recently our family has had to deal with a chiari diagnosis. When

> researching the issue I found this book about a guy who was diagnosed

> book in one day - it was pretty good - especially if you have chiari

> or insomnia or are interested in running.

>

> His insomnia is so severe that it sounds like he may have other issues

> as well. Basically he lived his whole life without much issue but

> then became symptomatic. The symptoms progressed to the point that he

> could barely walk at one point and went something like 8 days with no

> sleep. He had to pretty much battle the medical system for a correct

> diagnosis and wound up having surgery for the chiari. Since then he

> has recovered to the point that he has been able to run a marathon -

> but I think he is still struggling with the insomnia. It was pretty

> fascinating reading about all of the medications and combinations that

> he has tried and the impact of them all. It was also encouraging to

> read about his determination to overcome all of it. He actually ran

> his first marathon after the surgery after having no sleep the night

> before.

January 5, 2006