Scans / I have CCI but do I also have eagles?

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Sending you best wishes from uk :folded_hands::folded_hands:. It’s 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, I’m scared of the op - im 70 now and realise complications increase with age and I’m 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

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@Mcwelly have you heard a date at all for your op? :hugs: :folded_hands:

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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. I’ll 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

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Well, weeks is something although still hard for you while you wait :hugs:
Hope that the antibiotics work- again! :folded_hands:

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@Jules (my grandson in hospital very poorly with infection ? Cause - probable URTI - a fur young man who couldn’t see a gp now hooked up on ivs, o2 and monitoring :smiling_face_with_tear::folded_hands::sad_but_relieved_face:

FIT not fur :joy:

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Your poor grandson, I do despair at times, praying he’s better soon :folded_hands:

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Just wondered what ā€œanomalous ā€œ means in regards to my arteries? I assume vertebral arteries as neurosurgeon wrote this in the letter after he’d he had told me this ā€œwould not be a walk in the parkā€. Pic to remind


I think it means different to the normal anatomy?

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I saw a Dr. Osborne.

He said it’s 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 doesn’t 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 can’t promise any outcome when there’s 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.

I’ll probably try telehealth with Dr. Constantino just to see what he has to say.

I definitely have some compression and it’s causing symptoms of question is can I fix it conservatively or not.

I’ve been trying this postural therapy called PRI and it does give me some relief, but it’s 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 it’s 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 they’re ever so slightly improving, I’m 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

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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.

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I’ll 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 don’t seem to be worsening at this point

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Good, that Dr Osborne is honest (and very impressed that he listens to patient’s symptoms rather than just the scans), and good that you feel your symptoms have improved a little bit…if you’re managing okay at the moment it makes sense to see how things go & getting a second opinion from Dr Costantino says as well. :hugs:

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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 you’re not techy, perhaps you have a friend or family member who can help you.

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Does these images say any more then we knew before ?

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. That’s 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 don’t think that’s 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 can’t tell about the left side though. I would say you have vascular anomalies on both sidess

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Yes
This is my left jugular compared to the right

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