Thanks to all who responded to my question yesterday about post-ablation migraines with aura. I forgot to ask:
Did/does anyone take one of the available migraine medications such as Sumatriptan (also known as Imitrex), Rizatriptan (Maxalt), etc. at the onset or during your migraines? I have had a few migraines in the past and the Imitrex was often able to abort the full-on aura, etc. This time, not so much.
Thank you.
My wife suffers from occasional bouts of migraine but not connected with AF. As soon as she senses the flashing lights, she takes 3 paracetamols and that seems to nip it in the bud……….
I'm glad to hear your wife finds relief in paracetamols (Tylenol). I take Tylenol for pain which I find quite effective as NSAIDS are counterindicated for people with heart rhythm issues.
Sorry but I think that pain with ablation related migraine is unusual. Aura is very common but without the pain so no treatment needed. I always found that as soon as the first spot of light occurred it would take around 20 minutes to grow outwards and exit my field of vision if I relaxed totally , closed my eyes and went with the flow.
Oddly enough I had a couple of weeks of daily aura (no pain) out of the blue early last year and found the same thing worked.
Forty years ago when I suffered regular stress related migraine with pain (which appeared about 1/2 hour after the first zig zag) about the oniy thing I found was Migravese and a darkened room. Not much help when you are running a race team.
Thanks, Bob. I took a Tramadol yesterday which helped some. What is Migravese?
During those eleven days of migraine after my ablation I had all sorts of attacks. Some were painful, some were quite mild. They gave me sumatriptan but it didn't make any noticeable difference.
Interestingly enough, apart from those eleven days, Apixaban seems to have stopped the attacks of migraine I used to have.
Thank you for your reply. I'm glad to hear that the Apixaban stopped the attacks. That's amazing! So far, my Pradaxa doesn't have that effect.
There was a article recently in Psychology Magazine which looked at the latest research about migraines and what causes them, with and without Aura, which basically said that all available meds had no affect. Because the pain from migraine originates from within layers of the brain, painkillers just don’t work because there are no pain receptors in the brain and that was my experience. Lying flat in a dark room without moving was the only relief I ever got, sometimes for 2-3 days but normally resolved within 12 hours. It’s the dark that does it. I’m still light sensitive so wear darkened glasses most of the time and a visor if I go outside, that helped more than anything - protect from overhead lights.
Stress related headaches and migraines - 2 different things.
The weird thing is that having suffered migraines since teenage years, never had another one since my ablation.
I agree about light CD. When I was having lots of the darned things a flicker of sunlight off a car windscreen or patch of open water would usually set it off.
Hi, I suffered with severe Migraines for years but grew out of them in my 50s, one advantage to getting older. However my sons and grandchildren are also affected so I have been following the latest developments with interest.There are now some new treatments, monoclonal antibodies, which can prevent migraine attacks by attacking the root cause. The following link provides more info:-migrainetrust.org/live-with...
I doubt this type of treatment would prevent the Migraine caused by Ablation which is likely to be a different cause.
cheers
Ron
I’ve also had migraines since teen years and did not get them after my ablation last year, outside of those first few weeks. I did just have days worth about a month ago, diagnosed as due to dental surgery and infection.
Ablation #2 is day after tomorrow. 🙏🏼🤞
I suffer from the occasional optical migraine (aura without pain) and I found that wearing glasses with transitional lenses seemed to be a trigger - coming out of sunlight into a darker house for example. Now , if I go into the sunlight (I live in South Africa and the sun can be very bright) wearing dark prescription lenses helps, and if not, closing my eyes for 10 minutes inside the house helps.
I've had many aura migraines over the years. Sometimes followed by a slight headache. Drinking heaps of water helps,to the point of visiting the bathroom every 15 minutes or so. Try it, it may work for you.
Hi, I missed your original post but seeing the answers has helped me with an issue. I had ablation, afterwards I experienced what I can only call 'whiteouts' where a heat would come up from my feet engulfing the whole of my body and everything went white, so very scary, lasted a few moments, reported back to hospital and told that the surgeon could have touched a nerve during the ablation, I was then monitored, put on medication and an urgent fitting of a Pacemaker. These whiteouts eventually subsided but in their place I started to have, what the Cardio termed as TIA's, I would feel head pain on the left hand side, eyes would pixelate. These episodes made me spaced out, I knew what I wanted to say but it came out as gobbledegook - absolutely rubbish - and all I could do was laugh. Had brain scans with no visible sign of problems, last Cardio I saw said they could be migraines or a mixture of both. Further brain scans, nothing detected and put on Statins. As a consequence of these I have given up driving because I did'nt want to have an 'attack' whilst driving, had them in the supermarket, walking the dog etc., very very scary, thankfully they have stopped, I don't know whether yours were similar. I did not association the TIA's and/or migraines with the ablation just thought it was another issue I had to deal with........now I know. Thank you for your post, I wish you well. ps during these episodes I was under a lot of stressing with moving house, that may have been significant too.
I have been taking vitamin B2 for visual migraines for about three months and have found that it reduces them. This article provides some information. Of course, you should speak to your doctor first before taking this as a supplement.migrainetrust.org/live-with...
Interesting! When my PCP gave me the prescription for the Imitrex, he told me to try 400 mg B2 and 400 mg Magnesium. I’ve already been taking Mg. Taurate and Mg Glycinate for a long big time. I started on the B2 this week. Thanks!
Hey Will…I don’t take migraine meds and have had no procedures but without a shadow of doubt, in the early weeks of changing to Apixaban, I was plagued with multiple daily bouts of migraine aura, which was quite disconcerting. That has all now resolved.
So glad to hear it was resolved. Thanks for your message.
My wife suffers from migraines and the only thing she ever found to resolve them is Syndol. These used to come in two different forms; I don't know what the difference was other than, in her case, the yellow ones were more effective than the white ones.Unfortunately about 2 years ago they were withdrawn from sale because an ingredient had been identified in a study as potentially harmful.
They are just now starting to appear back on pharmacy shelves but in short supply.
I take zolmitriptan and have done so for years - long before the AF. When I was younger a migraine would literally wipe me out for 3 days and I lived in constant dread of one occurring. I tried all the triptans and it was amazing how they differed in efficacy. Finally, zolmitriptan was 'the one' and has been brilliant. I take it as soon as I get the herald symptoms and am able to function normally.
I have not noticed any obvious relationship with migraine and AF. That said, on both occasions I ended up in A and E in the wee small hours with tachychardia and AF, I experienced a migraine later. I think this is more to do with my migraine triggers though, the main ones being tiredness and dehydration. In the same way, every GA I have had (including the cryo ablation) has resulted in a migraine afterwards and frequent long haul flights had the same effect no matter how much water I consumed.
Interesting that so many of us have migraines AND afib…
Sorry to be so late to answer. I suffered horrendous migraines from about 18 years old to 65 when I developed AF. Previously I had tried every pain killer and the only drug that gave me any relief was eletriptan/Relpax. An occipital nerve block injection helped for a while too. When the AF kicked in I was put on gradually increasing doses of beta blockers and the migraines disappeared. After seven year’s of AF having cardioversions, drugs , three ablations and a Pace and Ablate I stopped all my heart drugs except Rivaraxaban and unfortunately back came my migraines. I have had them almost continuously and they are now being treated with eletriptan , propranolol and riboflavin vitaminB2 (as recommended by the GP). It seems so unfair to at last be free of SF to have my old problem back.
42 days post ablation 
Afib and migraine aura without headache
