It is 95 days since my ablation and I'm still experiencing migraine with aura.
I had a CT done as a precaution and all was normal.
History: I have had migraines since I was a teenager, so they are not new to me, but with Nurtec and Aimvoig, I had maybe one a month prior to my ablation.
Woke up with a horrible migraine after ablation and they persisted for 35 days straight.
Now, they happen every other day and always start in my left eye with an aura. I can get rid of it with manipulation and an ice-pack hat, but it almost always it comes back the same day and I have to take medication.
My neurologist from Neura Health (great app and telemedicine program) switched me to the stronger CGRP drug, Qulipta, for prevention and to continue with Nurtec for episodic migraines.
He also suggested I try using a Celfy which I have ordered and will share results.
EP said the site where they did the transeptal puncture should be healed, but is it? She can't know for sure.
Hoping stronger CGRP drug works.
Written by
Elizka
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Well if it is the transeptal puncture an Echo cardiogram should be able to check pressure drop across it and say one way or the other. I had this done the morning after my last ablation.
I had migraine with aura very rarely and mildly before my ablation but have had it much more frequently since. As my ablation was in Dec 2015 I guess it’s a permanent effect 😕
Like you I've had migraines since I was a child. After the ablation I had a horrible attack the day after and one each day for eleven days and then it stopped.
The EP told me that they didn't need to drill a hole as I had a hole in my heart. There are two kinds. One is called an atrial septal defect (ASD), and the other is a patent foramen ovale (PFO). Mine is a PFO and I think has been the cause of my attacks over the years.
I had found that when I started taking the anti-coagulant four years ago it stopped me having attacks. However, I often have quite minor (small) aura now which only last a few minutes. They seem to be caused by moving into a bright room or by stress. It doesn't bother me. However, I also have occasional bright flashes which are like a torch being shone into my eye. They appear from the left and quickly disappear.
My theory is that they are caused by stress hormones in the blood making the blood vessels expand and press on the optic nerve. Fortunately, they don't worry me either!
Maybe your EP could look at the possibility of closing your hole in the heart. The problem is that deoxygenated blood can leak into the left atrium and be shunted up into the brain.
Great response. thank you! Cardiologist said my PFO was tiny and any intervention would not be worth it as far as recovery and risk of surgery.
They did do a puncture on me during procedure. I hear you on the stress....I try to do many things to keep my stress down or in check including meditation. I do think the ablation was the variable for the change in my migraine frequency and change in how they start and end.
It seems likely that, with both of us, our PFOs played a part in the migraines we have had since we were children. I think that the prising open of my one to let the catheter through was the cause of the eleven days of migraines I had after my ablation. After that it went back to normal.
They told you your PFO was tiny and so they had to do a puncture. What they didn't tell you was whether they had tried to get the catheter through. This might have opened it up and possibly damaged it. Maybe that is the cause of your continuing migraines.
I also suffered migraine since teens ( definitely inherited but also hormonal & diminished since menopause but not completely). Post ablation & CV saw return of quite bad ones both aura & non aura. This did persist for a few months but then settled again. I have taken Pizotifen for many years as a preventer and found that helps then pain relief when one does get the better of me. I hope you find they settle soon.
Sounds horrible. My post ablation help sheet which Barts in London give out, says you might experience migraines for up to 7 days post-procedure. Well I had one on day three then another on day 6, but none since touch wood. I too had them as an adolescent and they've followed me throughout life, although they've got less frequent as I've got older. Before the ablation it might have been maybe one a year, so highly manageable. Hope they clear for you.
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