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SM - Human Sufferers and Stories

Thanks Tania- I think we can learn a lot from human SM (and the main UK charity, the Ann Conroy Trust, actively supports the Montreal genetic research because it will benefit humans as well). Because I went to the Ann Conroy Trust conference a few years ago, where they put on an evening of experts discussing SM in Cavaliers, I still get their newsletter, and was interested in an article by a woman who had surgery for SM who said one of the worst things was not just the pain, but constant loud tinnitus (from the CSF sloshing around) that drove her demented. This made me wonder whether dogs get this as well, and whether some of the head scratching is our poor Cavaliers frantically trying to get rid of the noise in their head. Not a nice disease, either for dogs or humans.

Kate, Oliver and Aled
 
Some one I know who has spoken with many people who have this condition and attended some of the human Chiari/SM conferences and events says there is a significant rate of suicide amongst people with Chiari/SM due to the pain -- and that they say medications/surgery rarely fully help with the pain/discomfort. Many human sufferers who know of the situation with cavaliers cannot believe they continue to be bred given the high rate of syrinxes in the breed, as they know how painful it is to live with.

Very sobering. I wish all cavalier breeders were required to attend just one SM/Chiari human support group meeting to get some idea of the suffering -- I am sure nothing would convert them faster to proper testing and using breeding protocols.

Maybe a few breeders will see this and will be brave and honest and caring enough to read some of those people's stories on their website.
 
I have a friend whose daughter is a CM sufferer. Her brother was killed in a motorcycle accident because of this and the result of the post mortem my friends daughter was advised to have an
mri. All of her life she suffered with tingling fingers/feet, back ache and terrible headaches, the gp treated her for migrane! After the mri she had surgery, the terrible pain she suffered
before and after surgery was unbelievable, a number of times she was rushed into hospital screaming in pain. Before she was diagnosed, I kept saying to her, you sound like you have the same symptoms
as my dog ! Of course no one believed me!

When I talk to my friends daughter about sm/cm in Cavaliers, she looked at me in complete astonishment! "why would you breed dogs with this when you have a choice" !!
 
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