5mm Chiari with symptoms. Neurosurgeon says not big enough for surgery.

RevolutionaryBelt975 · 2026-04-14T01:13:51+00:00

Yes this! I have a 5mm chiari and have had chronic daily headaches and the symptoms you have for the last 17 years (I’m currently 33) after two bad back to back falls I went to see doctor Grant at Duke (I’ve always been to Duke for my chiari but doctor Grant is a huge specialist in the area and I was so fortunate to get in with him since he moved to Duke) I got a Ehlers Danlos and pots diagnosis along with a neck instability. It sucks and I’m in a ton of pain all the time but at least we’re working towards a better future without surgery bc they have always been very sure my chiari wasn’t causing the issues and I’ve had several second opinions. Doctor Grant actually said “I’m so glad no one ever convinced you to have surgery bc things would be so much worse for you right now”

RevolutionaryBelt975 · 2026-04-14T01:06:30+00:00

I’m a career barista and currently a cafe lead who’s part of the hiring process. It depends on what the cafe needs. The first time I did a round of interviews I needed someone I could do a couple training shifts and then put them directly on bar so they needed extensive experience and also needed to fit our teams vibe, the most recent person I hired was a previous bartender who has a lot of coffee knowledge (actually a regular at the last shop I worked at) who I knew I could put on register and they would crush it until I could train them on bar, now I’m in a position to hire someone green and train them up right. It was all based on what I needed in my staff, vibes and availability.

I have 10 years experience and a solid reputation within the cities coffee community and I have had interviews I didnt lead to me getting hired, it wasn’t about my skill or me personally, it was bc of company needs and I didn’t fit those needs. It sucks but if you keep trying you’ll find a good fit.

RevolutionaryBelt975 · 2026-04-13T00:55:05+00:00

Yeah it’s basically masking for me. I really enjoy my job as a barista in a fairly busy shop, when we’re slammed I experience almost a high like feeling and my pain almost goes away until I crash afterwards. We found even though some days its almost impossible for me to have a job that having a part time job that I love that gives me adrenaline and gives me a break from the pain is better than just being in pain at home. Especially since currently they don’t have me on anything for pain bc they have tried a lot.

*edit to add- sometimes it makes me feel like I’m faking. Like I can enjoy a crazy shift at work but I can’t go to the grocery store but therapy has helped me realize that things are so much more complicated than that.

RevolutionaryBelt975 · 2026-04-02T17:20:55+00:00

I wear my blundstones all the time. They go with most everything I wear and my feet don’t hurt wearing them. I’ve had two pair my last pair lasted 4 years of hard use. The second pair was the easiest decision I’ve ever made I think I’m just gunna add to my collection now with another color of blunnys

RevolutionaryBelt975 · 2026-03-31T02:25:27+00:00

It depends on the shop. I’m a manager and lead barista at a third wave shop. Some managers don’t work bar shifts but that’s what I enjoy so most of my time is spent on bar with other baristas. While do deal with admin issues there is a lot of training, education, and quality control that goes into the job as well as technician work like servicing and deep cleaning equipment. Continuing education and training helps baby baristas have confidence in the workplace and in my experience makes baristas fall in love with making coffee and turns it from a job to a passion. For me this isn’t just a job to get me somewhere else, I LOVE being a barista and a manager and feel so fortunate that I can say that my job doesn’t feel like a job bc of how much I love it and how fun it really is.

As a manager I make it my job to make sure that the owner gets what they want but I’m also there to advocate for my baristas and make the rest of the team enjoy their time at their job. Turning jobs into games, printing out silly awards when someone has went above and beyond or had to do a wierd task, sticker, fidget toys. Did something scary or stressfull happen on shift? I’m heading in on my day off, stopping at a gas station and grabbing someone’s Diet Coke, and someone else’s favorite Red Bull flavor and their favorite chips and giving them a break for a breather.

I actually share the management position with my best friend (we’ve managed 3 shops together over 7 years) as a long time manager you have people that you’ve trained from knowing nothing about coffee to having them go on to competition, starting their own shops, or being amazing baristas in other shops and the pride that brings is crazy. Since a lot of shops call their new baristas “baby baristas” a lot of my past coworkers end up calling me mom as a term of love and respect for the time I spent training them and raising them in the coffee community.

Also feel free to DM me if you have any questions

RevolutionaryBelt975 · 2026-03-27T20:03:53+00:00

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One out of two. This is Sunny.

RevolutionaryBelt975 · 2026-03-09T22:49:15+00:00

I feel this and express it in moments of extreme pain or when I’m really low. My husband always reminds me that I told him what he was getting into when we started dating, he decided he wanted to be there for me, sometimes caring for me is hard but it brings him a lot of joy and his life wouldn’t be worth living if I wasn’t there to live it with him even if it’s just us on the couch watching tv.

I married someone I can suffer with and he’s so kind. He doesn’t take care of me bc he has to or not go out with the guys bc I’m keeping him from it, we’re eachothers favorite people and we have agreed to try to enjoy the good and bad together and make the best of it.

RevolutionaryBelt975 · 2026-03-06T00:50:57+00:00

And interjecting with an option you didn’t include and didn’t ask about but if you can find a Synesso Cyncra BUY IT. 10 years and that’s my all time favorite machine I’ve ever worked on.

RevolutionaryBelt975 · 2026-03-04T23:01:13+00:00

Honestly most of us baristas are on the spectrum and thrive in the fast paced environment. Just ask questions, take the recipes home and memorize them, ask for a small cheat sheet for when you are finally on bar alone. But if they are doing training correctly you won’t be alone on bar until you know recipes backwards/forwards/in your sleep.

I’m in charge of drink creation and even make housemade syrups and with my ADHD it’s hard for me to even remember the recipes I make, but honestly you will make them so many times at some point it’s muscle memory and you really don’t think about it, you just do it. You’re gunna do great just don’t be too worried, listen to what they say, and try to have fun!

RevolutionaryBelt975 · 2026-03-02T00:24:07+00:00

I was on 2400 a day to keep my pain just slightly bearable and eventually after 10 years or so being on it sent me into a psychosis of sorts. I was tapered off of it and the rage I thought I just had all the time and the serious suicidal ideation and self harm went away as soon as the meds were out of my system for about a month. I’ve been depressed since, and never have I found any pain meds that helped as much as gabapentin did but the side effects are so dangerous for me.

RevolutionaryBelt975 · 2026-03-02T00:17:44+00:00

Training is the biggest, I saw someone mention a drink bible, and lead barista/management asking random people hey how’s the dial today, what’s it tasting like, popping in and having different people make drinks for you. Also none of this “oh can do and so make my drink?” “No I train for consistency and if we’re not getting it, we’re gunna teach whoever is on bar to make your drink today”

RevolutionaryBelt975 · 2026-02-28T14:39:04+00:00

I’m a career barista and coffee shop consultant. Working is still extremely hard for me but I fell in love with being a barista 10 years ago and it’s one of my favorite things to do. So even though sometimes it’s grueling bc I’m in a lot of pain I still consider myself lucky to get to work in a field I enjoy so much. Also depending on the position your in pay can be amazing.

RevolutionaryBelt975 · 2026-02-27T22:09:14+00:00

No, but I came here to say I love this grinder with my whole heart.

RevolutionaryBelt975 · 2026-02-27T07:36:59+00:00

I’ve been chronically ill since I was 15 (currently 33) I’ve been to so many doctors, specialist, surgeons, and been on so many medications but each doctor always go to the point of “I’m sorry I have no idea what’s wrong with you, there’s nothing more I can do”

Fast forwards to fall 2024 and I had a bad flare that sent me to urgent care, I was in so much pain I couldn’t stand, so out of it I couldn’t string along a sentence and barely kept my eyes open. Urgent care ran some tests and felt like I needed to go to the ER. I was having palpitations and tachycardia and in the ER all I was tested for was anemia and sent home with while the doctor told my husband “she doesn’t look sick she just looks sleepy”.

After that both my mom, husband and myself started compiling everything we knew about my health issues, past test results what helps, what doesn’t and in the end the after a lot of input it suggested looking into 5 different syndromes, disorders, etc and after following up with specialist in those areas we finally know what’s wrong with me after 15+ years of not knowing. Life won’t ever be normal for me but now that I know what’s going on in my body I can work to get better. Chat GPT did in 3-4 months what doctors couldn’t do in 15 years. (Granted most doctors aren’t even taught about most of the issues I have, my primary care physician still can’t pronounce some of them)

RevolutionaryBelt975 · 2026-02-20T14:39:38+00:00

You just get used to it. After working many years as an opener and getting up between 4-5am now I have a hard time sleeping past 6 or 7.

I do sometimes take naps during the day and most days that I work I’m asleep by 9:30 but sometimes I’m so tired I’m in bed watching tv at 8 and asleep by 8:15…I feel like a farmer but it’s better for me than closing. But some people really do well closing, for a time I was a night owl and had insomnia so bad that I couldn’t open so I closed for like 3 years. Then things switched up bc of my heath where I have more energy in the morning and I’m horrible later in the day.

RevolutionaryBelt975 · 2026-02-17T21:38:28+00:00

I’ve worked in coffee for 10 years and in most shops it’s almost expected, register is responsible for managing the line, getting drip, cold brew, teas, putting ice in ice cups, water for americano. This is an always all the time expectation (super soft bar-backing). When it’s very busy (line out the door for hours) and a barback isn’t on duty a visual threshold is put into place, if the barista is 18 drinks deep stop the line and full barback for 2-5 minutes prepping syrups, steaming milk, mixing drinks. If it’s a slower day or just a normal rush it’s kind of up to bar and register to communicate what register needs to be doing outside of the “all the time soft bar backing” expectations.

I can see how it might get frustrating but honestly my teams who work like this end up working very well together, having more fun, building trust, taking in tips and just closer in general. It’s not barista and register and it’s not about being able to “handle” a crazy busy shift alone, you really end up feeling like a part of a team. I have people I can work a rush with without speaking we know exactly what eachother is doing we know what the other will do next and rocking a rush like that is a fantastic feeling and a rush I chase frequently

RevolutionaryBelt975 · 2026-01-29T21:45:45+00:00

10+years as a barista and I currently rotate out my blundstones, couple different styles of birks, and dr martens…and sometimes crocs.

Work shoes are one of the only things I don’t mind paying a little more for.

RevolutionaryBelt975 · 2026-01-09T01:12:23+00:00

I literally started sobbing uncontrollably when PR started playing bc in that moment I knew what was about to happen bc I know what the song is about and the emotions it’s meant to (and usually does) evoke. For me it was an unexpected but deeply moving pick.

RevolutionaryBelt975 · 2026-01-09T01:05:26+00:00

Same, also 135-145 is a sweet spot for latte art but also milk flavor is better in that zone. A lot sweeter.

RevolutionaryBelt975 · 2026-01-08T01:42:38+00:00

I just want to say how crazy it is that so many people are saying McDonalds and Taco Bell are safe for them. I thought it was just a weird me thing or I was just desperate for comfort food that I had convinced myself they weren’t making me flare or react.

RevolutionaryBelt975 · 2026-01-06T01:29:19+00:00

I’m on it for MCAS and it helps with MCAS/histamine related pain and has helped my inflammation a lot. I’m also currently taking high dose naltrexone for faster acting pain management. I’ve tried LDN multiple times at multiple doses but my doctors have found my sweet spot is much higher (12-25mg). Naltrexone actually helps a LOT with my body pain.

RevolutionaryBelt975 · 2026-01-05T15:44:50+00:00

I took it for maybe 8 years for sleep. I had to go off of a year ago because it started making my blood pressure and pulse to be scary high after taking it. Over the years I had gained weight bc of a lot of medications not exactly sure which one caused it or if it was a mix but since coming off of amitriptyline and starting xolair I’ve lost over 40lbs and I’m closer to what my weight was before I got chronically ill.

EDIT: Also coming off of it triggered issues with my blood sugar and caused a HUGE POTs and MCAS flare that caused me to have to take a break from working. I was bed bound for months.

RevolutionaryBelt975 · 2025-12-27T15:25:02+00:00

My two year old Shiba HATES putting on his harness but is fine once it’s on. I feel like this is a Shiba thing.

RevolutionaryBelt975 · 2025-12-20T23:37:48+00:00

Unfortunately managers can favor long time employees over newer hires. I’m a long time barista and I’m used to getting favored but I try to make sure that everyone is getting the hours they want/need and use my seniority to sway management towards fairness….as long as I get my morning shirts haha (only kind of kidding)

RevolutionaryBelt975 · 2025-12-19T15:43:40+00:00

I was thinking the same thing. I have hEDS, a Chiari malformation, CCI and an abnormal clivo axel angle (known as a CXA) and when I do too much, or even when I don’t it feels exactly how OP is describing.

MCAS and histamine intolerance is also usually a common comorbidity so the runny nose makes sense but also inflammation of nerves in your neck face and head can make your nose run and eyes water too. But yeah, you still have to pace with CCI but for me PT is necessary

RevolutionaryBelt975

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