NZer1 wrote: ... I find it so incredibly frustrating that there is no support for people in our area. We both have problems that are brushed aside no matter how passively we present our case to mainstream medicals ... the question comes back to CSF flows for us both. With my disc impinging on the thecal sac and our friends Chari flow issues there seems to be no interest in the importance of CSF flow.
*Is there articles that you know of that we can reference to give to our GP's, so we can begin a dialogue that will get us to the right people in the medical feild? Nigel
Nigel,
In my opinion your problems are probably due tension on the cord causing a functional Chiari malformation type situation with compression of the anterior aspect of the brainstem against the clivus of the base of the skull. The tension in the cord is causing the Lehermitte's sign. An upright MRI with flexion and extension views makes a great deal of sense.
I have sources and citations spanning decades. They are included in the papers I wrote starting in 1988. The book is based on those papers. So is my next book. Some of the original papers are ancient and difficult if not impossible to find on the internet but they are true gems, such as those from Drs. Dean Falk and Harry Shapiro. Falk was gracious enough to send me copies of her papers. I have a copy of Dr. Shapiro's monograph on the correction for artificial deformation from 1928. I also have pictures of the skulls I studied but they are on slides and need to be converted to digital when I get around to it. Eckenhoff was one of the first people to write about the impact of the vertebral veins on intracranial pressure because it impacts surgical positions. You won't find his paper on the internet. There are other Eckenhoff's however, with more recent research on the subject.
I will be including old and new sources and citations as my website develops. The new upright MRI studies are particularly interesting.
Unfortunately, I don't have time to dig through my files for all the studies at this time.
Milhorat and Bolognese authored the study on functional Chiari. It's a great paper. I would like to eventually use their sketches of the upper cervical angle but unfortunately I haven't been able to convert them to jpeg files and my website won't accept them as part of document file.
None of the physicians, scientists or reseachers I sent my book to, including Noam Alperin, have questioned the science in it. What's more, Alperin's specialty is in idiopathic intracranial hypertension (high brain pressure of unknow cause), normal pressure hydrocepahlus, and Chiari malformations. He is well aware of the studies and science and doesn't need me to repeat them. He is currently working with NUCCA on migraine studies using upright MRI.
The science in the book and on the blog and website is well established from topics on physical anthropology to neurology. It's the theory that needs to be tested and the best way to test it is with upright MRI, which I thoroughly discuss in my book.
That said, there aren't any studies I know of that will open a closed mind.
