You can use the magnifying glass search tool & put in C1 shave with CCI & posts will come up where those are discussed. You can send a private message to any forum member by clicking on their screen name or avatar as it appears above one of their posts.
Sending you best wishes from uk ![]()
. Itās do hard to deal with pain and other horrible symptoms and juggling a young family even more do. I struggle to walk the dog some days and quietly wait for a posterior fusion of C1/2. I have ES too but only help has been from neurosurgeon, I must trust his judgment but honestly, Iām scared of the op - im 70 now and realise complications increase with age and Iām scared of losing my normal way of life post op but what I feel is that we have no choice sometimes in how things show us the path. You are very young for fusion but if your neck is unstable I would shun manipulations. Dr centeno in Colorado does some very interesting tutorials and blogs, very educational. Keep doing your research, chase the answer to get well again xx
@Mcwelly have you heard a date at all for your op?
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Hi &Jules - no not yet but been told it will be weeks, not months so am trying to hang on in there. Today started course 36 antibiotics for ear + bladder infection ( done over the phone as usual). Fed up with no answers. Iāll keep you posted, I know many worse off than me and to have this at a younger age is soul shattering - I feel for those younger sufferers xx
Well, weeks is something although still hard for you while you wait ![]()
Hope that the antibiotics work- again! ![]()
@Jules (my grandson in hospital very poorly with infection ? Cause - probable URTI - a fur young man who couldnāt see a gp now hooked up on ivs, o2 and monitoring ![]()
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FIT not fur ![]()
Your poor grandson, I do despair at times, praying heās better soon ![]()
Just wondered what āanomalous ā means in regards to my arteries? I assume vertebral arteries as neurosurgeon wrote this in the letter after heād he had told me this āwould not be a walk in the parkā. Pic to remind
I think it means different to the normal anatomy?
I saw a Dr. Osborne.
He said itās possible that my ligament could be contributing to the symptoms.
He said he has seen it impressions that are not as bad as mine with symptoms and compressions that were worse with no symptoms.
He said if he had to go based off scans Alon and he would not do 50% of the surgeries that he does. But he listens to patient symptoms and he does that and most times people get better.
He said with my ligament, it would be tough almost like finding a needle in a haystack. It doesnāt present itself, obviously on the skin, but he feels confident that he would be able to help.
He thinks C1 shave, makes the neck unstable and does not do it.
He says he would have to open you up and do his best. He also said to try every conservative measure I can and leave the surgery as a last resort. He feels better about doing surgeries where he canāt promise any outcome when thereās nothing else the patient can do to get better. He says he mainly helps headache, balance and Brain fog and those r my main symptoms.
Iāll probably try telehealth with Dr. Constantino just to see what he has to say.
I definitely have some compression and itās causing symptoms of question is can I fix it conservatively or not.
Iāve been trying this postural therapy called PRI and it does give me some relief, but itās very small. I was told to stick with it for three months that I will feel much better. It works on rebalancing your body and itās supposed to help my neck and my SCM on the right side, which can possibly take a lot of tension off the jugular.
Because my symptoms are not getting worse and if anything theyāre ever so slightly improving, Iām going to give it time and see if this therapy helps. If not, I will do surgery. Question is will I do Dr. Osborne surgery or while I do Constantino.
Constantino being in New York and me being in LA with young family would be very hard and osbourne is local and easier the question is do I truly need a c1 shave and all these other things Constantino does or not
And do I want to risk more complications or not
I love the idea of surgery fixing my issue I really do
You definitely have a difficult decision to make, @Deanm. Some people get good results w/ just styloidectomies when IJV compression is involved, however when compression by C1 is the more dominant cause, the options are to shave the transverse process or slightly relocate the IJV away from C1. Dr. Hepworth used to do that more regularly, but I think he more commonly shaves C1 now in cases where C1 is the main cause of compression.
Iāll see what constantino says in August and the CCI Dr at usc
Meanwhile will keep trying conservative care until I have those consults
Symptoms at least donāt seem to be worsening at this point
Good, that Dr Osborne is honest (and very impressed that he listens to patientās symptoms rather than just the scans), and good that you feel your symptoms have improved a little bitā¦if youāre managing okay at the moment it makes sense to see how things go & getting a second opinion from Dr Costantino says as well. ![]()
Thank you.
Is there anyone here I can email my files to that would be willing to do a 3d reconstruction and look for any obvious signs of bony structures compressing the ijv?
@Deanm - You can do the 3D reconstruction yourself using RadiAnt - radiantviewer.com for PCs or Bee Dicom Viewer App for Macs. If youāre not techy, perhaps you have a friend or family member who can help you.
In the first & third images it looks like your IJV is compressed in more than one place & possibly by soft tissue below the styloid/C1 compression area. Thatās something Dr. Nakaji or Dr. Costantino would be best at dealing with.
@Mcwelly -
The enlargement of the bifurcated area of the right carotid is definitely anomalous.
Your left IJV is IMMENSE as well as your carotid bifurcation. I donāt think thatās normal. To me, it looks like both your right IJV & ICA are compressed. Look how narrow they are by C2-C3 & how wide below that. I canāt tell about the left side though. I would say you have vascular anomalies on both sidess









