Is there a common cause of afib and aura?

[GrampaBill]

I have for years wondered if there is a common electrophysiological cause of atrial fibrillation and migraine aura without headache. I understand that there is a strong co-incidence of the two conditions but it seems to me that there must be a common root cause of both. Any thoughts or experiences with this? I've had auras for about 10-12 years and afib for 5 years with both occurring about 3-4 times per month and they seem to frequently occur within a day of each other.

[Nan1]

Morning. I was so interested to read your post and like you do wonder if there is a connection of AF and aura. I have never suffered from auras. Diagnosed with AF in 2014 but have been getting auras for about 5 years. No headache with them. I wish you well

[Physalis]

There is a connection but it's sort of round about rather than direct.

This is my take on it. I have had migraine with aura, but normally without headache, for over 70 years. More recently it turned up occasionally without warning and there didn't seem to any rhyme or reason to it. I didn't associate it with my AF which happened much more frequently.

In 2018 I started to take an anti-coagulant Eliquis and I noticed that I had stopped having attacks of migraine.

In 2020 I had an ablation which was successful but led to relatively bad migraines every day for eleven days. I had been told that I had a hole in the heart, a patent ovale foramen, so they didn't need to drill a hole to pass the catheter through. My take on it was that, by poking the catheter through this opening, they had enlarged it and it took eleven days to go back to normal.

The drilling of a small hole through the septum is probably what causes aura after ablations.

So to answer your question, I don't think that there is a direct connection between AF and migraine. With me the AF, Eliquis, and the migraine formed an indirect connection.

[wilsond]

Very interested in other responses to this. I have been prone to migraines for a long time,with headache. However,after I experienced a surgical menopause at 43( overnight due to radical surgery) they ceased.

Diagnosed at 53 with AF and had one or two over few years.

Since I started on flecanide as a daily dose,I have had exactly as you describe. Aura without pain and also in the pattern you describe,several over few days.

I am on Apixaban ( elequis) and have not had an ablation.

Must be a reason to it!! I thought it was just me.

Let's see what people add to the discussion.

Best wishes

[BobD Volunteer]

It is now well known and mentioned in our fact sheet on recovering from ablation that the transeptal puncture made during the procedure to move from right to left atria is resonsible for the aura problems many patients suffer post procedure. (Since few doctors seem to know this I was lucky whilst compiling the fact sheet to find one who did!) Once it heals these vanish like snow in June.

It follows I guess that since many people have undiagnosed holes there then this may well be a reason for more people suffering migraines. Extrapolating from this if you have one heart abnormality then you may be suseptable to others and develop AF.

[jeanjeannie50]

I sometimes get the migraine aura without a headache and this is usually followed by others for a few days. They only last about 15 minutes and then are gone, but the evening after having one I get a short lived pain in my head when I get up from the settee. Mine are triggered by a flash of light, Can be sunlight, or once someone took my photo at work and the flash of the camera set it off.

I haven't noticed any connection with my AF.

[etheral]

Aura without headache is most common in 70+ males according to medsc ape studies I've read . They are presumably linked to neurological abnormality and supposedly linked to apixaban. AFib can also be caused by neurological abnormality . There is no direct evidence that there is a common cause, but there is a correlation. Best, etheral...

[localad]

Both have been associated with a low magnesium status.........perhaps worth a check ?

[waveylines]

Fascinating. I had my first aura in my early 50s.....lasted about an hour...bit scary. And then nothing for a year, then another.....same presentation but shorter. Then another several years later. Ive no idea what triggers them or why. No pain, but I feel incredibly tired after them & need to rest. I dont think mine are linked to Afib..