Can anyone help?

Have you had a brain MRI? I have chiari malformation which is a herniation of the cerebellum or cerebellar tonsils into the spinal column. The chiari caused me to develop a syrinx. It went from my C5 to about my T7 i think. I had numbness and tingling of my extremities. I had loss of sensation in my shoulders and upper arms. I had chiari headaches, balance issues, weakness in my arms and legs, back/neck pain, and multiple other symptoms associated with chiari and syringomyelia. I am not a doctor so nothing I say is true medical advice but it is based off experience. ALWAYS be sure to consult a licensed medical professional before making any diagnoses or decisions regarding your health.

For the balance part, I am not sure about the thoracic syrinx causing that unless fluid was blocked and pushing on the cerebellum somehow. I know my balance issues were due to my cerembellum being herniated and under constant pressure. The cerebellum is the portion of the brain that is in charge of motor control/skills. Usually syrinx happen due to trauma or improper fluid flow (usually due to blockage or increased pressure).

After my chiari decompression surgery and then my external ventricular drain I felt a lot better for a while and regained feeling in places I had little to no feeling in before. But then My symptoms started coming back and I had a lumbar puncture performed to test my pressure level and I found out my pressure is elevated. That means I have idiopathic intracranial hypertension (aka. pseudotumor cerebri). I found out that I need a third brain surgery to have a shunt put in.

As of now the syrinx shrunk a little since surgery and then stopped shrinking and did not fully go away. Syrinx are tough because sometimes they could cause a ton of issues in a person, could be caused by something else, or sometimes not cause any symptoms and people do not even know they have them.

I know i kind of gave you my story instead of a direct answer but that is the best way I know how to describe things and answer your question as best as possible.

You can message me whenever you feel you need to. I am very close in age to you so I can relate to what you are going through at a certain point in your life. I am a 23 year old veteran and collegiate athlete so I have a lot of decisions to make about my health that will impact the rest of my life as well so I totally understand the feeling of being nervous, scared, anxious, and in a way relieved to have a diagnoses.

I wish you nothing but the best. Try to stay as strong as you can!

You should get an MRI, I am a 25 year old female and have similar symptoms after an accident, I was diagnosed with syringohydromyelia. I have the numb patches like you, neck and shoulder pain, chronic nerve pain that moves all over my body, I get it in my hips and legs too. My feet go numb when I drive, my arms and hands are weak and I get numbness. Definitely see a doctor, numbness shouldn’t be ignored.