Five months ago Barny12 posted this link
bcm.edu/news/bone-hormone-n...
This morning this is in the Daily Mail and also mentions calcitonin
dailymail.co.uk/health/arti...
I haven't taken the time to get my head around it but I think there is a connection somewhere. Atrial fibrillation, hole in the heart, ablation, migraine aura, apixaban.
Maybe I read those wrong but it looks like you can either have AF or migraines To stop AF needs it but for migraines you want it stopped. ? Can't have everything!
Yes, life's like that! You can't have everything.
I'm having an x-ray of my hip next month and looking it all up I can see you get treated with anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen but my doctor says I can't take ibuprofen with apixaban.
I like the idea of a hip replacement better but maybe I won't get one.
I had my right hip replaced in mid Dec. I am recovering well and can walk much better even though the left needs done as well. Before the op I was in lots of pain and some days had to drag myself upstairs using my upper body strength. Ibuprofen was never an option as it has always upset my stomach. My x rays showed no cartilage at all in the right hip.
I'm in a similar state about hip replacement as I was with ablation. I didn't think I'd get one as I wasn't bad enough.
My x-ray is in a month's time. Will they put me on painkillers or do the op? Looking on the internet it says it is better if it is done earlier. Then it says it's for people who have got a lot of pain. I shall just have to forget about it which with me is easier said than done!
I don't know about the UK. Here in France I was told by my GP after he saw the x ray that a replacement was the only option as it would not get better . At that time I was not in a lot of pain and did not want an op. He was right. 4 months later I changed my mind. He gave me the letter for the surgeon in March then came lockdown and I did not get an appointment till August. The pain and feeling of unsteadiness by then was causing me to need a stick outside. By Dec when I got the op it had deteriorated even more and the left was rapidly deteriorating too. Here there is less waiting on ops making do with meds. If you get the chance I would go for the op. It was far less an ordeal than I thought it would be. I could cook and wash up within a few days of coming home. Within 4 weeks I could walk in the house without support. Today I dug up plants using the spade for the first time - no problem.
That's very helpful. Up to a month ago I was fine but maybe my five days of activity changed things. I've been pottering around for the past year, not going out and doing 1000 steps a day or less but six days of 3000 steps seems to have done some harm.
My x-ray report after I had a fall in 2018 said 'Significant degenerative changes in the bilateral hip joints with joint space loss, subchondral sclerosis and cyst formation.' Mind you they said that about the joint space loss twenty years ago.
I did try to bring it up some time ago when I visited the doctor but he said 'make another appointment' and I didn't. I know that will horrify you!
Our local hospital does 1300 total joint replacements each year which is promising.
No I understand that. I delayed phoning for my appointment with the surgeon partly because I was worried about going to the clinic and sitting in a waiting room with possible virus carriers! When lockdown finished and I rung for my appointment they told me twice to ring back in a fortnight as his schedules weren't settled. I was surprised to get a date for the op as early as Dec as I knew there would be a backlog despite it being a private clinic. But I fear you will havd to wait far longer on the NHS so if you get the chance grab it!
If he said make another appointment because he's a one ailment per appointment type then that horrifies me!
I've been transferred to a younger woman doctor who seems very nice. It was some time ago and I think they allocated ten minutes for an appointments. Someone saying 'while I'm here doctor' was not appreciated! Mind you he always ran late.
I wonder how it will work out.
I will post Tim Spector's video again, the one about the gut microbiome. I have just bought some milk kefir grains.
We are more fortunate. You can have as long as you like . After you have divulged any ailments (we have to go once every 6 months anyway even if there is nothing wrong as you don't get a prescription renewal unless you see the doc) , he examines you thoroughly . He will chat about his bees ( my husband keeps bees too) . I always save up any problems till the 6 monthly visit and rarely go in between. You never get the impression that the clock is ticking.
The Calcitonin article is very interesting. I wondered if it was my thyroid but the drs won't do regular tests. I probably have an inherited link, consultant thinks so.
@BobD - always the contrarian - I had both AF & migraines.
The connection between hole in the heart - foramen ovale - and migraines has been known about for a long time. It has been a contentious issue in the diving world as to whether or not it’s safe to dive if you have FO - which 20-25% of the population have, even if they aren’t aware of it. I had a FO, unknown as I dove for many years, & migraines all my life - until I had an ablation.
The FO hadn’t shown up on any other tests & only found during 1st ablation. The EP did a bubble test & consulted but I didn’t need a repair. Interestingly, whilst many people suffer migraine following ablation, I’ve never had another migraine since ablation.
The concern is that blood from RA will leak through to LA causing clots and FO increase stroke risk - hence the bubble test.
The connection between all is the hole they punch through the atrial septum during ablation though no idea where Apixaban comes into it other than to reduce stroke risk.
What with Zebra fish research & hormones.....
I try to work things out but may well be far off the mark. I've had migraines with aura since I was 9, all sorts really, some pretty terrible but mainly the aura spreading outwards and disappearing after about 45 minutes. I wish I'd kept some records but I guess I had attacks a few times each year.
These stopped when I started taking apixaban so I'm guessing that the FO was more open when my blood was stickier but the apixaban made it less so and enabled it to close together more tightly. Sanjay Gupta describes an FO as a slit or flap of skin which has not completely fused after birth as it should do.
During my ablation I guess they made the hole larger to give them more room and that led to the eleven attacks of migraine in the eleven days afterwards. It would also explain the migraine auras which a lot of people notice. Fortunately, I have had no attacks since.
I wonder what chemicals, hormones etc in the blood coming up from the body taking a short cut from the right atrium into the left atrium and going straight to the brain cause migraine.
Nice theory but anticoagulants do not change the basic viscocity of blood they merely slow down the clotting process. There is no change in "stickyness". Its not like in old cars where you used a thinner oil in winter because the summer oil got too gluteanous in cold weather.
I beg to differ. I think it is true that people with a history of migraine have more strokes. What if this very thin slit in the middle of the heart allows very tiny clots to build up occasionally? It could be that when they break free the hole takes a time to close up properly again? Until it does, some chemical goes to the brain and causes an attack of migraine.
Maybe Apixaban has prevented these clots from forming in my heart in the first place so effectively stopping my migraine.
‘Sticky’ blood is usually caused by having platelets which clump together - that’s where anti-platelets such as Asprin & Clopidogrel come in and why they are helpful following a stroke or heart attack.
Again the viscosity of the serum doesn’t change - it’s more like it becomes lumpy as the blood cells clump together and they can cause clots. Certain autoimmune conditions can cause the platelets to clump together - see Hughes Syndrome. Certainly if you have Hughes Syndrome then anti-coagulants and or anti-platelets are used to manage it so your theory is spot on in believing the Apixaban will be helpful and may have helped stop your migraines.
Interestingly - Migraines are a symptom but I’m not suggesting you may have Hughes Syndrone
Thank you for this. I also suffered from Scintillating Scotoma (jagged visual effects) just before migraines, and attributed it to a nut allergy.
Just re-read the DM article and it is now available in in pill form. Will follow more.
Very interesting thoughts and facts. I have had migraine with aura all my life. As a child it frightened me terribly and I never told anyone about it because I thought I was going blind. In my teens and until middle life I suffered bad pain and debilitating effects as well but now in old age I just get the aura BUT I have PAF!😠 Bad swap I'd say wouldn't you?
When it started my mother called it a bilious attack. Then I heard the radio doctor talking about it and I knew that was what I had. I was actually very pleased but my mother never accepted it.
Fortunately, now I have neither migraine or PAF. However, sometimes when I close my eyes I see a herringbone pattern. Straight after the ablation for a couple of weeks I saw a swirling pattern of little pink dots, quite pretty. Something's still going on but I have no idea what.
Interesting. I have atrial septal defect was very large so had to be closed. My migraine with aura started the month after surgery! Fascinating. That was 18 years ago. I started with PAF 1 year ago. 🤷🏼♀️
It could just be that, although they closed the large hole, there was a small hole left.
I used to have two bad migraines a week when I was working which stopped after my second child. I have hardly any now.
Calcium and all metabolites are involved in pretty much all illness especially chronic ... There's a balance needed in the body and we just don't live in a way that we are sure we get that balance. Over time fundamental damage occurs. We literally are cells who are only alive because of their metabolism. Without metabolism cells die...with abnormal or inadequate metabolism...cells malfunction. There's a huge connection between calcium and the metabolic disorders..osteoporosis diabetes thyroid issues...and for me I take magnesium...a natural calcium channel blocker or rather mediator...vasoldilator etc. All of which helps migraines. Helps diabetes. Helps inflammation...helps a lot of chronic things. But whether this tablet can do anything I don't know. I guess it depends on what the cause of the persons afib is. For me it was simple. For other people they may have different issues. I think the main thing is to find the underlying cause and attend to that....be it stress or like me mineral deficiency...or someone else who's fucked their thyroid from stress and eating terribly over time I dunno. It seems like this forum is all about the pills. I prefer to try to be healthy and figure out what's wrong than just pop a pill. Can't afford the risks pills pose and can't afford to squash symptoms that can help me know what to do for my best. If I didn't have my aflutter symptoms because I took a pill then I would still be deficient in magnesium and not be sorting out the needs of my body.
New high-tech heart mapping could throw a lifeline to thousands of desperately ill heart failure patients
I thought I would share
Afib Stroke Risk Lower in those that take Statins
Ablation damages the heart
Entrainment ( Listening to a Heart Beat)
