Acr4886,
I had the same problem in the begining. My parents and husband both kept writing of my pains, and other symptoms such as numbness, nausa, etc..as anything and everything from the way I sat, ate, slept, or even sneezed. It was very frustrating since my husband had been to all of my doctors appointment, and my mother had been to most as well. I have in the past year since my diagnosis that they kept telling me the symptoms were caused by something else or were nothing to worry about as an attempt to keep me from being so worried and a way to try to convience them selves that there was nothing seriously wrong with me. It seemed as though I could handle my diagnosis and at the same time it was too much for them to be able to handle. They were all to afrade of what my future might hold.
Sorry to o on so long but hope it helps. I know it's frustrating, but give them time, we all know how scared confused and frustrated we were when we were diagnoised o think about how upset the one that love us must feel when they hear the news and must deal with it in there own ways.

Side note sorry for my typos, I have severe numbness in my left hand that sometimes makes my typing very interesting to read. Sorry, hope ya'll understand.

Well my husband at the begining was ok with the idea it is not htat bad to, but he is the tyoe of person that belives there is always people out there worse then me. At the begining my hole family was also on the it is nothing mode until i explained exactly what it is and how it afects me daily. As I have gotten worse and now loose my ability to walk get realy bad mucle spasms and also pass out they are all very concerned and worried about me. My husband still does not talk about it to much but he is alwasys worried about me. And i now he acts all brave to make me feel better. The best thing you can do is realy educate your self on Chiari and all the side effects of it and then discuss it with the people that are not supporting you. I now it is realy hard for people to understand unless they live with it it is not the same. Well you have a great support teem her to litsen and talk to you when ever you need.

My family does the same thing. Mom, a former nurse, understands and has empathy and tries to reallly understand, but my siblings talk bad about me all the time. they do it when I leave the room but I have heard them more than once. they just think that I can do more than I do and that I would be better off I exercised more, which makes me a lot sicker rather than better. I am sick of being the one that my family talks bad about because I can't do things they think I should. Also they don't try to understand or research it or do anything to try and understand they just judge me. i honestly don't know how to help in this situation because, they don't want to try and i can't make them . so we are both in the same boat. i understand where you are coming from. My family thinks that I am faking a lot and they make rude comments. it hurts my feelings but I don't know what to do about it either. but yes I know how you feel and sometimes that is what matters. that is what these groups are for. I wish my family would read them sometimes so they would understand that I am not facking, I a not the only one and that my symptoms are real.