Maria Concetta Zimbato. Arnold Chiari I Syndrome; idiopathic Syringomyelia and Scoliosis. Medullar Traction Syndrome.

Published by ICSEB at 16 June, 2011

Date of surgery: June 2010

My name is Maria Concetta Zimbato, I live in Regio Calabria, I am 52 years old and according to diverse specialists who I contacted, I suffer from Arnold Chiari I Syndrome and Syringomyelia.
I will try to briefly tell you how I got to Dr. Royo´s hands at the CIMA Clinic in Barcelona (Spain).

My first symptoms started in 1997 with strong pains in the vertebral column and in my legs. This is when my pilgrimage started between various health care centers in my city and other regions. I started diverse analgesic and anti-inflammatory treatments with poor results. Thanks to the X-rays and MRIs we understood that the constant dizziness and strong headaches especially at night when I went to bed or in the morning when I woke up could not be from a simple ear inflammation.

Time went by and I kept having X-rays and MRIs done but no one recommended me to have a brain test apart from an Othorhinolaryngologist specialist from Regio who works in a hospital close to Verona. I then had this test done when I went back home with the diagnosis of Arnold Chiari I Syndrome and Syringomyelia. With this conclusion I went to the Neurosurgery department at the Regio Calabria Hospital to show my new results and get some advice. The doctor who looked at them told me that in Italy the cures were few when it came to rare diseases. I started to go to diverse hospitals, Milano, Rovigo, Boloña…

The different treatments used did not give any good result; on the contrary, as time went by the disease developed itself and I started to have paresthesias in hands and legs, in fact I was losing sensitivity in my hands as well and burnt my fingers without realizing it. My vision and hearing diminished but the worse was that I lost weight because I had lost my will to eat.
I went to a center in Perugia to relieve the pains that were more intense everyday, they did infiltrations in hands and cervical region with results that lasted less every time and was an enormous waist of money. I also went to hospitals in the North of Italy but the results were always disappointing, time went by and I didn´t know which Saint to entrust regarding my worsening symptoms.
One day, talking to a friend, she told me about her family member which also suffered from the same pathology, so I quickly got in contact with him (it is Dr. Francesco Crocè!) and he kindly explained and put me in contact with Rita Presbulgo, a great person under all points of view who gave me the opportunity to contact Gioia Luè, Psychologist of Dr. Royo´s Institute in Barcelona.
The very important day was approaching, I had an appointment for the surgery on the 29th of June 2010; a few days earlier I was visited in Dr. Royo´s institute in Barcelona, which after having personally studied my tests (I had already sent them through e-mail), confirmed the treatment indication by means of the Section of the filum terminale.
The surgery time is approximately one hour between entering the surgery room and leaving it; what I noticed right away a slight recovery, the feeling of being lighter, I felt less heaviness on my body, the rope that pulled from my neck towards the bottom that only a person suffering this pathology can understand…

Know, almost a year has gone by and I can say that now a days I feel almost perfectly fine (you cannot completely recover yourself from the disease) although the symptoms I had before have disappeared- However, I have three herniated cervical discs which cause me to have some discomfort and I have recovered the sensitivity in my hands. I do not have that discomfort anymore in the eyes and ears, my life is becoming like before and I can play with my grand children, before I could do it having a hard time. For the moment I am happy with Dr. Royo´s surgery.

I would like to thank Dr. Royo with all my heart and to all his team.

Maria Concetta Zimbato.