How many BAVs have migraine aura?

[PathFinder]

I am asking, because there is a mounting evidence of BAV with AVR, who suffer or have benn suffered an aura, particularly without headaches.

There are some trials, that BAV itself creates a specific pulstating vibrations, which predisposes the aorta, pulmonary artery and even the peripheral arteries to a fatigue of their arterial walls.

A trial with a 96 Hz vibrator, put in a dacron tube, developed an "aneurysm" of the tube, minutes after the start!

Robickseck and collegues prooved the vibratory nature of the BAV, simulating for first time a BAV in a simulation of aorta with sensors all over it.

The migraine aura perhaps is a result of such disturbancies of the arterial walls of the brain arteries. Their walls may be irritated by the low frequency vibrations.

These researches, however, are more relevant to the explanations of the arterial disorders in patients with congenital BAVs, since no culprit gene has been found, despite the enormous quantity of trials.

Almost all the certain investigators target their researches in that direction.

So, now, the poll is:
How many BAVs have, or had a migraine aura ever in their lives?

[PathFinder]

It's working ;)

[pamela]

To help clarify here is a link to The Mayo Clinic - Migraine with Aura (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/migraine-with-aura/DS00908) page.

I put my squiggles and other occular quirks down to the elevated internal eye pressures I have as part of some unspecified (and unacknowleged by my PCP) CTD. My mother had migraines pre-menopause but two years ago had her eye blow a hole through the back beside the retina. She's never been diagnosed with BAV or CTD either, although there are huge signs of something not quite right. Someday a doctor will listen and I'll get the referral to a geneticist I've been requesting.

[bird lady50]

I have a lot of head aches with my bav. I dont know if it is or not if the headaches or caused by my bav

[francie12]

Extremely interesting! My BAV son has aura, usually without headaches, and I have always, on the gut-level, felt that the two were connected. There is already a proven link between atrial septal defect and migraine. My son has had a "bubble study" to rule this out. (Pathfinder, have you had one? ASD sometimes comes along with BAV) Matt gets right-sided facial numbness, sometimes going down the arm and even leg along with his aura. Anybody else have that? (I suspect GERD is also connected to valve problems, but that is another story:)) Thanks for the post! I'd love to have the link to this study if it is in English.

[KristyW]

I had my BAV replaced in 2001. I have had the migraine auras for almost as long as I can remember. I still get them even after the replacement. I sometimes get headaches with them, and mostly I don't.

[Susan BAV]

I also wonder what the percentage of people within the common population experience migraines to some degree or another. Anyone know that percentage?

At age 16, I began getting an occasional and slight vision disturbance (like spots of kaleidoscope vision) and then a slight headache for the remainder of the day, had them off and on for years, before they were diagnosed as a classic migraine. But they weren't nearly as bad as what a few of my friends suffer with severe migraine issues and no known heart issues.

When my bicuspid must have been accelerating in its decline, and when I simultaneously began suffering with more labile hypertension, I began having a brief and occasional vision disorder that I would have to describe as double vision. These became more frequent as I became more symptomatic.

With the new valve, I don't think I've had the classic migraine even once; and I've only had the double vision episode maybe once or twice.

[Marguerite53]

Hm. Hope those with BAV who do NOT have migraine auras will vote!!

My auras started in high school, or at least that is when I first distinguished that something was wrong temporarily with my vision. AVR 36 years later....still get them with same frequency, duration , intensity, triggers.

Rarely headaches. Aura lasts 22-23 minutes every time. They kind of march across my visual field. When they get to the center (by my nose) I know they are just about gone. Seems to mostly be my left eye.

Marguerite

[Cooker]

I assume that BAV means bi-leaflet aortic valve…..I had no problem before or after my AVR….

[geebee]

I am a mitral valve patient. I am posting (did not vote, tho) because I think migraines/auras are very common for all valve patients in general (or at least mitral and aortic). I cannot find it now (of course:rolleyes::D) but I remember reading about a study that indicates some migraines might be caused (at least pre-surgery)by micro tissue material breaking off from the damaged valves.

The vibration theory is very interesting as well. Thanks for this thread.

[Bina]

I assume that BAV means bi-leaflet aortic valve…..I had no problem before or after my AVR….

Bicuspid Aortic Valve. A defect someone is born with.

[Diana]

I voted for my husband who has been suffering from migraines and migraine aura since he was a small child. Up until he was about 23-23 he would have probably two a week, sometimes the same one lasting for days, but now thankfully they have backed off to about once a month.

Diana

[Wise]

I've had auras, or what I now believe to be auras, three or four times. I've had a lot of migraines in recent years.

[Cooker]

Bicuspid Aortic Valve. A defect someone is born with.

That's me....defective since birth:p

[Sherry]

I didn't vote since I'm a mitral valver, but I have had them since my late teens until now (I'm 44). I've always been perplexed by the jiggly and flashy line episodes but never knew what to make of them. By the way, I don't ever get the headache, just the aura. I posted a Cleveland Clinic article about auras a few years back. Here's the link:

http://valvereplacement.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11418

[fireftr]

I would have never connected the two. I have these visual disturbances occasionally, rarely with a headache. I can close my eyes and see a light show when it happens (kinda weird). I am still not sold on the connection though. I have always chalked it up to other causes, such as fatigue or dehydration; or even looking into a bright light by accident. They typically go away after 15 minutes or so, but can be almost blinding at times. It makes it extra tricky when it happens at work and I have to function half blind :eek:.

Eric
BAV with regurg
In the waiting room

[Louise]

I have migraines, not frequent any longer, as long as I stay away from too much caffeine, certain prescription drugs, and hormones. I have had the aura post op, but this did not occur more frequently until they added flecanaide to the metoprolol to control the a-fib. Metoprolol is supposed to help with migraines. Once we stopped the flecanaide, the auras stopped. I'm off of the metoprolol too. I still get an occasional aura, with and without the headache.

Interesting theory indeed. :)

[PathFinder]

Here I poste a document, just published in the Am. J. Cardiol. about the BAV and the changing targets for searching of the culprit factors. As I said before, BAV is associated with arterial defects, but since no "BAV - Gene" can be found, despite the ENORMOUS researhes, the scientist begin to look in a much complicated hypotheses and theories: in the fluid-mechanics; hydraulic properties; tissue mechanics; and anothes parts of physics. Still, a part of the BAV population IS associated with a more generalized connective tissue disorder, but the genetical-hypothesis is not sufficient to explain the properties and the secrets of the bigger part of the BAV population.

A critical review of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association practice guidelines on bicuspid aortic valve with dilated ascending aorta.
Guntheroth WG.

University of Washington School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics (Cardiology), Seattle, WA, USA. wgg@u.washington.edu <wgg@u.washington.edu>

The 2006 practice guidelines from the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association recommend prophylactic aortic replacement for even an asymptomatic patient with a bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) when the aortic dimensions exceed arbitrary ranges based on Marfan syndrome, without comparing risk estimates of aortic dissection with operative risks. In the International Registry of Acute Aortic Dissection, which includes >1,000 autopsied subjects, the average age is 63 years; BAVs are found in only 3%, compared with histories of hypertension in 72%. The risk for valve-sparing aortic replacement is 4% and that for late mortality is 10%, on the basis of 5 publications. The aortic dimensions are from guidelines for Marfan syndrome, with a proved genetic weakness of connective tissue, whereas no culprit genes have been demonstrated in BAV. Although cystic medial necrosis is seen in dilated aortas associated with Marfan syndrome and BAV, it is also seen in dilated aortas with other causes. There is no convincing proof that cystic medial necrosis causes dissection or is simply an effect of dilatation. BAV is not associated with dilatation of the pulmonary arteries, in contrast to Marfan syndrome. Hemodynamic explanations for dilatation of the ascending aorta have been largely ignored because of a belief that it requires severe aortic stenosis or regurgitation. In conclusion, vascular dilatation without a genetic weakness is caused by coarse periodic vibrations from even trivial valve disorders, demonstrated experimentally. There is a natural history of progressive deterioration of the BAV, including the valve left in a valve-sparing aortic replacement, that makes the operation ill advised, as opposed to valve replacement with aortic reinforcement.

PMID: 18572046 [PubMed - in process]

All the greatest investigators of the bAV disease, like Fedak, Della Corte, Robicksek, Guntherot and many many others give their knowledges in seraching the of the "source". And all they reach to a same place: the place, where they find again, that the condition may cause many different phenotypes, whit different properties and different outcome.

One think is already clear: BAV is just a phenotypic appearance of different diseases.

Best regards,
Ivo

[Natanni]

I voted for my husband. He started to have migranes as a child, starting with a migrane aura he described as like looking through a kaleidescope, followed by the severe headache and nausea. His only way of coping when he was a child was to sit in a very dark room. His migranes were able to be controlled with Advil once it was available. He has went from cluster migranes monthly to two migranes since his BAV repair in Sept 2005. Talk about your nice little unexpected perk following surgery :)

[Bina]

I won't vote because I am not a BAV, but I have a long history of connective tissue problems and auras.
My heart murmur was discovered in my early twenties and that is when my Classic Migraine headaches also started. I would have the visual aura followed by headache and nausea... my only relief was to go into a dark room and lie down. This went on for several years until my stenosis got very bad, then I mostly just had the auras without any severe headache.
Now, post op I still get occasional visual auras lasting about 15-20 minutes, and no headache at all.

[tobagotwo]

I've had visual migraines since about five years before I had my AVR. However, I was not bicuspid. As such, I didn't vote.

Best wishes,

[Duff Man]

I've only had a few headaches that felt crippling like migraine sufferers report... and actually I've had just as seldom weird visual disturbances. Never had a name for it until now, but I remember one time my left eye looked like I was looking out of cracked glass in the peripheral. So I don't know, I guess I'll call this a yes vote.

[PathFinder]

I guess a few headaches are even less than the general for the healthy persons. One visual appearance would not be considered a Migraine with aura, since I don't know an alive man without visual stuff sometimes in their life. So, I don't know if you have to vote in the YES group.

Best regards,
Ivo

[danbrown]

That's very interesting. I never woud have gotten a connection between BAV and migraines. I do have migraine auras with minimal or no headaches. I have had them for about 30 years. During my last year or so before AVR I noticed that I had fewer and fewer of these. Since the surgery I have them more often.

Dan

[tomflies1]

I had my BAV/aortic replacement surgery last Monday, I'm home now and starting my recovery. It's not at bad as I expected it to be, at least pain wise. But, since I've been home I've had Aura/migraines, even had one in the hospital just after surgery. I figured it was from all the meds they were giving me, but I started researching on the net this morning and then happened to see this thread this morning here. Wow, just as I was suspecting, there is some relationship between the two. Yesterday I had to episodes, but didn't get pain after the aura went away. It lasts about 15 minutes usually, sometime longer. I still do get 'aftermath' the following day, but not severe. I used to have headaches right after the aura went away, even nausea, but that has lessened the older I get. (55 now) I wonder if there's a study we should all join?
Tom (BAV/aortic repl. July 21)

[Leah]

I have a BAV, not yet replaced. I didn't vote, in part because I'm not sure whether a "visual disturbance" is the same thing as an aura. I've had, twice in my life (separated by many years), something that an internist diagnosed as a "visual migraine" (visual disturbance without the headache or with minimal headachiness). One, many, many years ago, was post-anaesthesia and explainable on that basis. The other, more recently - ???

Pathfinder, this is interesting but/and I'd appreciate some clarification about your original post in this thread. I didn't see a source for the association of BAVs with visual migraines. I am concerned that any information we collect on this forum is purely anecdotal and tells us nothing about a statistical correlation. Many people in the general population have migraines and/or visual migraines. It would take a well-constructed research study to know whether there is a greater, and statistically significant, correlation of migraines or auras with BAV. Clearly we don't have the ability, within this forum, to collect meaningful data. (That's the other reason I'm not voting.)

That said, bring on the info...

[Susan BAV]

I also wonder what the percentage of people within the common population experience migraines to some degree or another. Anyone know that percentage?

At age 16, I began getting an occasional and slight vision disturbance (like spots of kaleidoscope vision) and then a slight headache for the remainder of the day, had them off and on for years, before they were diagnosed as a classic migraine. But they weren't nearly as bad as what a few of my friends suffer with severe migraine issues and no known heart issues...I looked up some info about migraines on the Web:

Found at www.headaches.org (National Headache Foundation): "Nearly 30 million Americans suffer from migraine, which is most commonly experienced between the ages of 15 and 55. Seventy to eighty percent of sufferers have a family history of migraine. Less than half of all migraine sufferers have received a diagnosis of migraine from their healthcare provider. Migraine is often misdiagnosed as sinus or tension-type headache."

Found elsewhere: "...About 15 to 20 percent of migraine sufferers experience visual and other disturbances about 15 minutes before the head pain..."

Also found elsewhere: "The American Migraine Study II in 1999 found that 12.6 percent of Americans suffer from migraines, according to the 2005 book, "A Study of Migraine." About 18.2 percent of women and 6.5 percent of men get migraines."

[PathFinder]

Dear Leah,

I'm sorry I can't search again the studies I have found, because it's 00:30 East European time and I have to go to work early in the morning. But tomorrow, if I have the time, I'll try to find a study, which associate statisticaly significant thecongenital heart diseases with aura with/without headaches. Some suggestions say, that there is either the probability of genetic origin in some cases of endothelial alteration in the arteries, or a irritation of the endothelium by different mechanical forces (as it can be seen in some NON-BAV patients with aortic valve disease), who expirience the migraine aura without headaches close in time with their surgeries or periods of valve deterioration. Since in the Mitral valve prolapse, there are suggestions of magnesium defficiencies (causing migraines), the vibration-mechanical hypothesis (and sometimes genetical) may be more relevant to the BAV/TAV patients with stenosis/regurgitation/sclerosis type of valve disease.

Best regards,
Ivo :)

[PathFinder]

Hi, here i poste a fragment of the Guntherot's review of the BAV pathogenesis, published in the spring of 2008 and directly related to our discussion:

...There is a considerable body of evidence indicating that
specific hemodynamics can produce dilatation in all arteries,
including central, peripheral, and pulmonary, which is
not discussed in the practice guidelines.1 In 1954, Holman15
observed that even minor degrees of obstruction of a normal
peripheral artery could cause rough periodic turbulence and
that this, rather than the severity of the obstruction, produced
the subsequent dilatation by means of tissue fatigue.
Aortic regurgitation can produce the effect of mild stenosis
by increasing the systolic velocity as a compensation to
maintain forward cardiac output. Mild hemodynamic abnormalities
that cause vessel dilatation occur in the pulmonary
trunk16 with poststenotic dilatation, but dilatation of the
pulmonary artery is rarely associated with BAV or aortic
dilatation, although the aorta and the pulmonary artery develop
from the same tissue from the truncus arteriosus.
Dilatation of the pulmonary artery as well as the aorta is
characteristic of Marfan syndrome, with the affected tissue
influenced by the abnormal genetics of the vessel walls, but
not in patients with BAVs, countering the idea of an inherited
tissue weakness.
Bruns et al17 showed experimentally that a vibrator with
a frequency in the acoustic range (96 Hz) activating a thin
metal strip in the center of an elastic tube, without touching
the walls, could produce an “aneurysm” of the tube at the
point downstream of maximal periodic vibration in a relatively
short time. They compared this with Holman’s15
results using blood vessels and with clinical situations of
mild stenosis of the aorta and pulmonary artery that were
accompanied by a thrill. They postulated that the aneurysm
represented structural fatigue due to the acoustic energy that
was “much greater than one would expect from turbulence.”
17...

Ivo

[cday]

Usually, aura without pain is called an "Ocular Migraine". Aura followed by pain is called a "Classic Migraine". Pain with no aura - non-classic. My husband (the BAV patient) has had many Ocular Migraines and at least one Classic Migraine. I (non BAV) have many, many, migraines of all three types. We are also both near-sighted.

It seems odd to me that so many regular medical medical conditions are trying to be linked to BAV. What percent of the population has migraines? What percent of the population are near-sighted? Is the percentage of BAV patients that have either of these that much greater? Are they going to begin giving echos to every near-sighted person? I really don't see how this is going to help diagnose anyone.

Can anyone "Splain" this to me?

[PathFinder]

I have already posted a thread, where I mentioned, that we should NOT associate anything with the bAV issue. In this case - the nearsightedness have been never related with the BAV disease, as it is associated with the MVP in some cases, or most of the systemic connective tissue disorders.

However - the migraine aura is already presented as an evidence in people with congenital heart disorders. In this thread it is prooved by some way, despite the fact, that may be here are voting mostly people WITH than withOUT migraine auras.

Ivo

[PathFinder]

Please, Cday, vote in the poll!

[terryj]

For years I swore my husband hated vacations because he got migraines everytime we went on one after he reached 40. Well, he had his BAV replaced at 51 and never has had a migraine since. I think he just stressed himself getting ready for vacations and maybe caused his heart to work harder and caused the migraines. Just my theory.

[Duff Man]

I have already posted a thread, where I mentioned, that we should NOT associate anything with the bAV issue. In this case - the nearsightedness have been never related with the BAV disease, as it is associated with the MVP in some cases, or most of the systemic connective tissue disorders.

Ivo

I don't understand the wisdom of ignoring the common symptoms among people with BAV. Are you saying we should preclude anymore investigations of disease other than ocular migraine that have a higher than usual occurrence in people with BAV? Maybe you're saying the layman shouldn't be suspicious of a common link to systemic disease.

[PathFinder]

If you look at the study of Fedak and collegues "Vascular remodeling of patints with congenital bicuspid aortic valve", you will see, that there is evidence of systemic deficiency of connective tissue elements, like fibrillin-1. There are also evidenced deficiencies of eNOS. There are elevated productions of MMP's, triggering aortic dilatations. However, these findings are not sufficient to do the conclusion for the BAV disease at all! The reason... there are too much BAV persons in those studies, whos structural and molecular and histological statuses compare the general. Plus - there is trend of hereditary bAV in only 15-30% of the patients. What about the others? That's why, the investigators are targeting their researches in some other, more complicated mechanisms, which may explain the BAV in non-familial, or non-genetical BAV.

Best regards,
Ivo

[cday]

Pathfinder,

I am not a medical professional nor do I play one on TV. I am not trying to be rude, but since there such a large number of people that have migraines it seems akin to linking BAV with drinking Dr Pepper.

There may be great value in the association -- on first glance it seemed to me that the research should be "How many Ocular Migraine sufferers are BAV?"

Truthfully, I am not going to read any hyper technical links -- I'm just an average person -- so I need the reasoning in layman's terms.

And I really would like to hear your answer. Thanks.

[Leah]

IVO, I read the long piece you posted several hours ago. It's very interesting - however, maybe I'm dense but I don't see anything in the post that points to a correlation with ocular migraines. Can you explain?

Aaron, I don't think the issue is that researchers shouldn't investigate symptoms or conditions that correlate with BAVs, but you need solid data to know that the condition does indeed correlate, i.e., that the occurrence is greater (in a statistically significant way) than in a control group without BAV.

Leah

[oscar1113]

Very interesting thread. I have to vote no, can't say I ever remember having anything like this.

[Susan BAV]

I looked up some info about migraines on the Web: ..."The American Migraine Study II in 1999 found that 12.6 percent of Americans suffer from migraines, according to the 2005 book, "A Study of Migraine." About 18.2 percent of women and 6.5 percent of men get migraines."I only did a quick search and found this in reference to Americans but figured it probably is at least nearly typical of people everywhere.

[catwoman]

There are some trials, that BAV itself creates a specific pulstating vibrations, which predisposes the aorta, pulmonary artery and even the peripheral arteries to a fatigue of their arterial walls.

I don't have BAV; however, I had my first ophthalmic migraine (i.e., aura consistent with migraine without pain) just about 2 days post-op. Had several more in the hospital and asked my surgeon about them. He didn't seem to understand my description of the beautifully colored art-deco designs. However, my dad understood; he's had ophthalmic migraines and has seen several specialists.
A friend -- a retired professor at an optometry college in Memphis TN -- said these are due to disrupted blood flow. I 've googled that and ophthalmic/optical migraine and got hits on this. My friend's mom had MVR (St. Jude mechanical) in her early 70s and has visual disturbances as a result of the surgery.

Stands to reason that someone who's had OHS could be at higher risk of disrupted blood flow due to occasional a-fib or PVCs. Not sure if it's tied directly to one valve or another.

[MarkU]

I had ocular migraines with increasing frequency leading up to my AVR eight years ago. Since my surgery, maybe one or two. I don't really miss them.
;)
Mark

[hall]

I have had visual disturbances for ages. Usually in one eye or one side of my face. It will be there for 20 min. or so and then go away. Before my AVR I had a headache all the time. My PCP said it was because of lack of oxygen to the brain. Another doc said it was something else. Well after my AVR guess what else went away??? Yep, my headaches! YIPEEE! Those headaches hurt bad. Nothing helped, I took vicodin, torodol, nothing helped. Glad for those to be over.

[DeWayne]

I am unclear as to what this is actually. But I do know I had many instances prior to surgery over the years where my visision was defintely disturbed. TO the point I could not focus for periods of time. I could see, but there was no way I could actually focus on something. I don't recall if a headache came with it. I also know there were times that shooting streaks of light would happen around the time my focus would be a problem. I have not had these since my valve replacement.

[Duff Man]

If you look at the study of Fedak and collegues "Vascular remodeling of patints with congenital bicuspid aortic valve", you will see, that there is evidence of systemic deficiency of connective tissue elements, like fibrillin-1. There are also evidenced deficiencies of eNOS. There are elevated productions of MMP's, triggering aortic dilatations. However, these findings are not sufficient to do the conclusion for the BAV disease at all! The reason... there are too much BAV persons in those studies, whos structural and molecular and histological statuses compare the general. Plus - there is trend of hereditary bAV in only 15-30% of the patients. What about the others? That's why, the investigators are targeting their researches in some other, more complicated mechanisms, which may explain the BAV in non-familial, or non-genetical BAV.

Best regards,
Ivo

I think I get what you're saying now, but tell me if I'm wrong: There could be something as simple as vibrations from the BAV causing issues within the blood vessels, and stuff like that....? Or (going out on a limb) maybe something like hemolysis from the odd shape and turbulence of the BAV can cause problems...?

[PathFinder]

That is, what I expected - to see patients, whose series of migraine +/- aura attacks stop or decrease, in general after their valve replacements. This supports more the theory.

Here I poste a part of a study from 2007. Please read it:

We found a significantly higher prevalence of MA+ in patients with congenital heart disease, not only with but also without an obligate right-to-left shunt, when compared with the prevalence in the general population. Until now, the assumed link between migraine and congenital heart disease concentrated almost only on right-to-left shunting and the hypothesis of vasoactive agents entering the systemic circulation without being filtered in the lung vessels.1,2 However, the data of our study suggest that, besides a right-to-left shunt, the presence of a random congenital heart defect was also a significant determinant for the increased prevalence of MA+. These data agree with previous findings that a dominant inheritance of a predisposition to cardiac abnormalities, which were not limited to patent foramen ovale, atrial septal defect or other right-to-left shunts, was associated with the occurrence of migraine.5 In addition, we confirmed the association between migraine and rising haematocrit levels. Migraine, due to augmented haemoglobin levels, might be caused by the activation of blood compounds and the endothelium due to shear stress. Therefore, hyperviscosity could be another explanation (besides the hypothesis of vasoactive substances) for the highest prevalence of MA+ in patients with congenital heart disease and an obligate right-to-left shunt, which resulted in secondary polyglobulia.

However, we have to take into account that our data are based on a small population of a single centre and that both selection and recall bias might be present.

We can conclude that the aetiology of migraine remains an enigma; however, we would like to emphasise that the origin, as well as the facilitating factors, of attacks is multifactorial.



And then again, you may read the previews article I put, about the hemodynamic alteration and vessel-stress, prooved to appear with the BAV.

I want very much to be more clear in my suggestions, guys, but I'm a bulgarian and my english is only at an amateaur level.

Best regards,
Ivo

[Duff Man]

Dude, that's really interesting. Glad I figured out what you meant :)

They should do a randomized study on the effects of just blood thinning for people with congenital heart defects.

[MNmom]

Hi there, I used to have migranes when I was in high school- so bad I had a prescription on hand and was told to take them when I would start getting what I called the "flashes of light" They pretty much went away in college, though I would still get the flashes (aura). I continue to get it. I had my BAV replaced at 20 with tissue and now with mechanical- have had at least one episode of the aura in the last 8 weeks since Ive been out of surgery. Thinking back, I had a horrible migrane while in the hospital after my first surgery 11 years ago- it kept me in one extra day, in fact!
Interesting studies out there- I think anyone could find a correlation with any two issues sometimes. :confused:;)

[Butterfly]

My mother had miagraine and was not diagnosed with BAV.
I have BAV and have suffered relatively frequent miagraines (with aura)and cluster miagraines , until the last several years when I began supplementing with magnesium. Since supplementing I haven't had a miagraine attack save for a couple of times when I ran out of magnesium or forgot to supplement for several days.

There has been a lot written about the miagraine/magnesium link and it seems to work for some people. The Life Extension Foundation and many alternative health websites discuss the depletion of magnesium from soils and therefore from the foods we ingest. They also suggest that many people have lower than ideal levels of bodily magnesium that is apparently needed for many bodily functions.

I asked my cardiologist about supplementing with magnesium and he wasn't concerned that I did so . I also don't take any regular medications. If wanting to try magnesium for miagraine it would be best to seek out medical advice before doing so.

I hope this helps some people to find relief from their headaches and the nauseating affect of the aura . Looking back I wish I had known of magnesium sooner as the effect that miagraine has had on on life at certain points has been quite debilitating.

[CCRN]

Can someone tell me the exact difinition of a "Visual Migraine"? I had visual disturbances of double and kalidiscope (sp?) vision for years before my valve and aortic replacement and still have some of the same when my INR is low. I'm not sure if I should vote yes because, even though I had the vision thing, I don't recall a headache. I DO recall pulling over to the side of the road until the darn thing passed if I was driving when it happened.

[PathFinder]

Just about an hour I have read few studies of the shear & tutbulent stress over the endothelial cells. Their conclusions show alteration and disturbances of the production/secreting of endothelial nictric oxide syntase (eNOS). It may even alter the gene's working :confused: or somethink. As I mentioned before, eNOS is one of the candidate genes for migraine aura. ;)

What is more interesting for me, was that they found even a corelation with the mitral valve prolapse (chordaes related). They found an alteration of the fluid dynamics in the outflow tract of the LV, where the wall stress had also a specific alteration, giving to the aorta an abnormal/turbulent flow! However they mentioned only the chordae of the anterior mitral leaflet, which is continuous with the tissue of the aortic root and aortic valve cusps (they have common embryonic origin).

That means, that soon we all may start a large poll/thread, similar to this, where not only the BAV, but also some MVP patients may participate. :)

Ivo

[Butterfly]

I haven't really looked too far into the reason that supplementing magnesium keeps my miagraines at bay however I was encouraged by some of the posts to look further into this and more especially the link to eNOS and found this article.


From Pub/Med.
High concentrations of magnesium modulate vascular endothelial cell behaviour in vitro.Maier JA, Bernardini D, Rayssiguier Y, Mazur A.
University of Milan, Department of Preclinical Sciences-LITA Vialba, Via GB Grassi 74, 20157 Milano, Italy. jeanette.maier@unimi.it

Magnesium supplementation has been reported to prevent cardiovascular diseases through the decrease of plasma lipids and to improve endothelial function in patients with coronary artery disease. In the present work, we evaluated whether high magnesium concentrations can directly affect the function of cultured endothelial cells, which play a crucial role in maintaining the functional integrity of the vascular wall. We cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells for various times in media containing different concentration of magnesium (range 2 to 10 mM) and compared them to the corresponding controls (1 mM Mg). High Mg concentrations stimulated endothelial proliferation, enhanced the motogenic response to angiogenic factors and attenuated the response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS). In addition, we demonstrate that high concentrations of magnesium did not modulate the levels of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, but enhanced the synthesis of nitric oxide, in part through the up-regulation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase. Our results demonstrate a direct role of magnesium in maintaining endothelial function. We therefore anticipate that magnesium may have a protective effect against atherosclerosis and could play a role in promoting the growth of collateral vessels in chronic ischemia. Moreover, because it induces the synthesis of nitric oxide, this cation could be a helpful tool in hypertension as well as in preventing thrombosis.

PMID: 15158908 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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[Andrew'sMom]

interesting topic! andrew gets headaches about 2 times a month,at least that's how often they bother him enough to make him complain about it to me. I consider that "often" for a 7 year old. He has always gotten headaches, and he is the only 1 of my 4 boys who does get them. he has never mentioned any visual disturbances, but I will ask him next time he has a headache. I myself (healthy heart) DO get the auras, which my dr calls "occular migraines." In fact,just had a brief episode a few days ago.

[cday]

He has always gotten headaches, and he is the only 1 of my 4 boys who does get them. he has never mentioned any visual disturbances, but I will ask him next time he has a headache.

It is so hard with children since they don't know anything different they may think everyone has that. One of our boys had convergence insufficency and thought everyone saw two baseballs coming toward them. When it was finally diagnosed he asked, "So which baseball do I catch?" Then he concluded, "It is always the one on the right."

[cday]

Can someone tell me the exact difinition of a "Visual Migraine"? I had visual disturbances of double and kalidiscope (sp?) vision for years before my valve and aortic replacement and still have some of the same when my INR is low. I'm not sure if I should vote yes because, even though I had the vision thing, I don't recall a headache. I DO recall pulling over to the side of the road until the darn thing passed if I was driving when it happened.

Here is how I believe each is defined:

Classic Migraine: Aura followed by pain

Ocular Migraine: Aura no pain

Non-Classic: pain no aura

Cluster: Migraine on steriods

So a Visual Migraine would be a Ocular Migraine.

An aura can be a couple of things I know of:
a blind spot (that would remain no matter which eye you cover),

flashes of light (I can only see these if I am in a dark room with my eyes closed, don't know if that holds true for everyone),

and squiggly lines that cross your field of vision (can be seen with eyes open).

Auras are different from the "floaters" people get as they age as the actual inner eyeball gel changes and causes dark shadows to be cast across the retina.

Cindy

[Dawn-Marie]

Around the time i went into congestive heart failure in November, i started getting what my doctor said were "optical migraines", where i would see zigzag lines all over in my side vision, and the only place i didn't have them was when i looked straight ahead. No pain at all. I've only had them happen a couple times since then, thank goodness. My doctor had no idea why i started getting them. He didn't connect them to my valve problem. Dawn-Marie

[ottawagal]

This is very interesting information. Just over a year ago, I started noticing kaleidoscope-like white dots in my peripheral vision that would last for about a half hour. It has been occurring on and off since the first episode. I would not have a headache with it. In addition, I noticed that at times when I read the lines on the page seem to jump on. It is difficult to explain. I am near-sighted and thought it could be my contact lenses. When I asked my eye doctor about this, he said that it could be a type of migraine. So...that would put me in the yes category! I never thought of this as being a possible connection to a bicuspid aortic valve.

[debrap]

As a teen I had "Classic" migraines, but once into adulthood they became more of an aura or just visual disturbances,, such as the double vision, and lights triggering episodes of flashed and squiggles lasting 20 to 30 minutes. All with no headache pain. Had a cat scan done to rule out tumors in my brain, and finally an eye specialist diagnosed "Migraine" . I have been asymptomatic until 18 months ago, when I ended up going to the er for chest pain several hours after an outpatient surgery to repair a broken nose. Since then the visual disturbances have increased along with my other symptoms. I wouldn't wish it on anyone else, but I'm glad I am not just imagining it all.

[Rick]

I have BAV. I've had migraines with an aura since age 12 or so and have even had episodes where I could not speak -- jumbled syllables - because the migraine was so intense.

Rick

[Enzo & Ziti]

I was diagnosed with BAV at 18 and suffered from migraine aura with no headache since age 12. I continued to have the auras all the way up to my AVR surgery 4 weeks ago and had more episodes while in the step down unit at the hospital.

However, I've had no recent episodes since I've been home. Coincidence?

[JeffM]

I've been getting classical migraines since I was 18. I'm 52 now. I often get pain, but I always get the aura, sometimes without pain. I typically get migraines during stressful periods. I would love to wake up a year after AVR and realize that I haven't had a migraine for a year!

[JeffM]

For a couple years (I rarely get them any more), I was getting ocular migraines several times a day. No pain at all and there didn't seem to be any connection to my usual migraines. I thought I was developing a brain tumor until my GP told me what they are. I have no idea what to make of that.