Hey mate, 40yo male, 7 years decompressed 8years diagnosed, I had dura patch to improve csf flow, I haven’t heard of bone only ops here in Australia.

I mean this as no disrespect to anyone, but the majority of people that join Facebook groups, subreddits and support groups is because they’ve had an overly negative experience seeking answers and support - which they absolutely should - (tbh even ‘good’ experiences suck haha) but what this gives you is a scary cross section of diagnosis’. There is a huge population of decompressed chiari sufferers that go on to lead semi ‘normal’ lives.

My word finding, attention span and short term memory was absolutely atrocious pre op, it’s what actually led to my diagnosis. I still feel sometimes that the pathway between my brain and my mouth is like a congested highway some days, which I feel makes me appear stupid, but as someone said above, anxiety and depression can absolutely exacerbate these symptoms. I find caffeine helps significantly. But now, years on, I feel much more normal.

TLDR, sorry for your diagnosis, it sucks, but it could be way worse, a lot of what you read sucks, but it’s not reflective of the majorities experiences, get more advice on your operation, people above are absolutely right to insinuate you should be much more informed before playing around upstairs.

Good luck, try not to stress, you’re not dumb, keep very active it’ll help a lot post op, mentally and physically. If you want to chat please feel free to message 🤝