does anyone know

[lohoppie]

of any forums that doctors read and will respond to your question. Im now almost 7 weeks post op for a mitral valve repair and have had a non stop aura...(impaired vision with kind of a flashing light effect).....this has not gone away at all since the surgery....Ive had an mri....seen the eye dr ....and now im on prednisone because my cardiologist is going on a hunch....unfortuneately im half way thru the cycle and no break in this....I also still have a partial numb foot....Ive already asked others on the forum and now Im looking for any medical input and wondering if anyone knows of any forums or rooms where i could post something for the professionals. appreciate any feedback.....my own surgeon has never seen this before and really had no advice for me. thanks!

[rbl1999]

Hi, I did not have the "constant" aura, but I did have it several times a day for a while, my doctor told me that it was from the anesthesia. I think the Cleveland Clinic will respond to questions, I am sure Ross will know and others as well.. Hope you feel better soon!!! Rose

[Ross]

The Cleveland Clinic Heart Forum has physicians answering selected questions. No guarantee yours will get an answer, but worth a shot.

http://www.medhelp.org/perl6/cardio/wwwboard.html

[jeffp]

Very many of us here have had the "aura" and our docs just looked at us like we're nuts (which we are!). If you do a search here on VR, you'll probably be able to find the threads. I get mine for about 20 minutes practically daily. Numbness is another thing we've had lots of. I'm still getting used to my hand being numb after almost a year, but most folks seem to say it goes away within a few months.
Just don't let them convince you it's in your head and that they've never seen it. Maybe they just never took it seriously because they're worried (rightfully so) about the heart function and healing.
Do well.

[MitralMan]

It usually preceded a migraine.

Not a single aura episode post-op for almost a year, but now they've started again. No migraine behind it, just the aura. I quiet down, and it goes a way. I take Excedrin, it goes away.

What is UP with that?

Glad to know (in a perverse way) it's not just me!

Thanks for that!

[hensylee]

i KNOW OF ONE that I found nearly 6 yrs ago. This will get you into the site, but you have to join to ask a question. Dr Rich will answer you shortly, altho, he often takes the weekends off.

http://forums.about.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?nav=messages&tsn=1&tid=3392&webtag=ab-heartdisease

Should the above fail you, he is in About.com - go there and look for HeartDisease/Cardiology - then look for the forum. He is an electrophysiologist, noted author, etc - you can look at all his credentials somewhere in there, too. He will not give you personal advice or medical advice, but he will answer in general terms.

He also writes a weekly article that you can have emailed to you. There is much to be learned in these articles - and in all of his site. He's also in the Doctor on Call site - or used to be.

Hope you get some answers.

[lohoppie]

for all the repsonse....much appreciated!

[distances]

I gotten auras for approximately 20 min at a time post-surgery. Daily right after surgery then gradually they've just come periodically. I find I get them much more often when tired from doing too much or first thing in the a.m. when just waking up. Dr. told me they were migrane auras, tho I never get migranes, just the auras. I've found that when it starts, it goes away fastest if I drink lots of water and if I change positions, turning away from the daylight or draw the curtain. Good luck.

[Christina L]

"nerve central" of the heart as someone mentioned on a post here on VR.com (can't remember who - sorry) so for whatever reason, I truly believe these experiences we are having with our vision post surgery are ocular migraines caused by fooling around with the nerves in the heart. I also think that surgery messes up hormones (both men and women) because of the stress put on the body.

I had the ocular migraines (few and far between) before my surgery and they were diagnosed as such - now I have them maybe about once a month.

Anyway, they are nothing to worry about. I am not sure about the numbness you are having, though.

Christina L

[Georgia]

I think it'd drive me crazy to have an aura non-stop - when I had them (primarily pre-op, now very rarely) they only last a few minutes. Lohoppie, even tho you're half way thru the steroid treatment, don't despair - sometimes remarkable things happen with steroids. Take the rest of them and they might work. Problem is, so many of us have vision issues like this that it's probably micro-clot related. I can't help you, just wanted to let you know I'm thinking of you and hope you get some relief.

[sue943]

I get them too, they last about 20 minutes from start to finish. I have had them for years and although they are never accompanied by pain, they were diagnosed as migraines - I do get 'normal' migraines too but haevn't had one for a long time. I haven't had a visual disturbance for a fw days!