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SM in humans

pippa

Well-known member
Hi all, I just found out that a relative of mine has had SM for over 30 years now.

I was a child when he first got ill (in his early 40's) and never really understood the cause,it has got progressively worse over the years and he is now pretty bad with it.

I never realised it was SM and only found out tonight when his wife said to me that she'd watched a programme on TV three last night and it said my dogs can get the same thing her husband has and she asked me if I knew about it.

I was totally gobsmacked..I can't believe after all these years I never asked her about it,we are fairly close. The thing is I was a child and only 9 yrs when he got ill and we were thought not to ask questions.

I still don't understand the human type..she did say his spine was affected and his brain is not involved like in the dogs. He had some compression on the spine but couldn't be operated on because he would have been left paralysed.

Does anyone else know more about the human form of SM?

I'm still in shock!
 
Sorry I just realised..this is probably the wrong place to post this and I don't know how to move it....Karlin?
 
Yes, it's amazing,you never know who might have SM and they could be very close.
What symptoms did your relative have that made you realise that something wasn't quite right Pippa?
Sins
 
Search the forum ... I believe there are 2 posts on SM in Humans. At least.

I know Karlin posted an article a couple years ago, and a while ago I also posted a video about SM in a little boy.

EDITED: Actually here are 3 posts ...
http://www.board.cavaliertalk.com/showthread.php?t=24548&highlight=chiari+malformation+human
http://www.board.cavaliertalk.com/showthread.php?t=20881&highlight=chiari+malformation+human
http://www.board.cavaliertalk.com/showthread.php?t=17637&highlight=chiari+malformation+human

Unfortunately Yahoo took the video off their site, so that's not available anymore. It was about a little boy who couldn't sleep and what life was like before and after decompression surgery ... fascinating.
 
Last edited:
Thanks will these links out.

Sins...This man suddenly got ill when I was a child we were told uncle ......had something wrong with his back and will need a big operation.

Afterwards he always walked with a stick and one leg doesn't really work..he is now in his 70's and in a wheelchair.He has a lot of other problems related to the condition also.
 
I think this is a good location for this thread. :)

How odd to find out that your uncle has SM!

Thanks for that link, Sins.

I have some links to human SM/Chiari organisations at the bottom of this page:

http://sm.cavaliertalk.com/home/links.html

IT isn't actually the brain per se that is involved but the fact that the skull is too small for the size of the brain -- and most likely your uncle would not just have SM but SM secondary to the Chiari malformation unless it was caused by an impact, for example). The malformation compresses the hindbrain and reduces the space in which the fluid surrounding the brain can circulate and pass through into the spinal cord. That is what causes the syrinxes to form though researchers don;t know the mechanism.
 
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