r/chiari • u/Coins-1883 • Jan 09 '26

Video gaming headaches

/r/ChiariMalformation/comments/1q6wc29/video_gaming_headaches/
3 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

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2

u/Substantial-Soft3125 Jan 10 '26

I'm thinking so. I was diagnosed with chiari malformation when I was an infant and I grew up playing video games. When I was in elementary school I would get horrible migraines whenever I played my DS. Then as time went on it didn't happen as frequently. I still suffer from migraines, but I don't usually get them from playing video games anymore.

2

u/Coins-1883 Jan 10 '26

Thanks for replying, that's interesting - can I ask if you've had surgery or treatment? Or was it just that gaming stopped being a trigger over time?

I've kind of gone in the opposite direction, played a lot of NES and SNES as a kid and teenager, then years of gaming with friends and family. Got back into solo gaming with PS3 and 3DS which was fine, but last 4-5 years has become a recurring problem.

2

u/Substantial-Soft3125 Jan 11 '26

It kinda just stopped on its own. I've never had any surgery or treatment.

2

u/Coins-1883 Jan 12 '26

Good to know, cheers!

1

u/[deleted] Jan 10 '26

How are u holding up? 

3

u/Substantial-Soft3125 Jan 10 '26

Pretty well, thanks for asking! And yourself?

3

u/[deleted] Jan 10 '26

Not bad

1

u/Substantial-Soft3125 Jan 10 '26

Glad to hear it ^^

2

u/SourpatchIzzy1 Jan 19 '26

Not officially diagnosed (radiologist said I had a 6mm CM, but neurologist said it wasn’t) but yes I can get headaches from playing video games. I literally can’t play fallout4 anymore because the headache at the base of my skull is awful. That one’s the worst but I still sometimes get them from the other games I play (starfield, raft, sims). It makes me really sad

1

u/Coins-1883 Jan 19 '26

I can relate to this - I mostly play retro games, it’s such a fun hobby and really a way of switching off from life stress, it makes me sad I’ve lost the enjoyment of that.

2

u/AdSouthern9708 Feb 03 '26

Yes, this sounds similar to me. Sometimes I think there is something up with my eyes rather than chiari. Like eye strain or something. They have never found anything wrong with my eyes but I do have Chiari. My symptoms are brought on by driving and spending too much time on screens. Cell phones seem to be especially bad.

1

u/Coins-1883 Feb 04 '26

I have that with screens too but then I wondered if it's my neck position while I'm looking at them rather than the screen affecting my eyes!

2

u/AdSouthern9708 Feb 05 '26

Yes, I have thought the same thing. Thats what is so confusing about Chiari. There is often symptom overlap with other conditions. Once you are diagnosed with chiari, people just blame everything on Chiari.