Comes and goes!

I'm a 69 year old male that had no obvious migraine condition for most of my life. 10 years ago I had heart valve surgery for a leaky valve condition that was probably congenital. I had made a post op visit to my cardiologist about a month after my surgery. While driving home I suddenly felt a tingly feeling in my left foot. It slowly crept up my leg until I could feel some numbness in my left cheek. I immediately called my wife, relaying the symptoms, and I told her to call my doctor. I pulled to the side of the road. My nurse called me back immediately and I tried to relay my symptoms to her. Obviously, she had trouble understanding what I was saying because my speech was somewhat slurred, but she got the message. By that time, maybe 5 or 10 minutes, my symptoms had totally disappeared and I felt normal again. On my way home I stopped at a local hospital (my nurse had called them) and I went through some basic tests. Naturally, the doctor found nothing wrong, all my vitals were stable and I was feeling completely normal again.

Later, my cardiologist called as he had arranged for me to return to the hospital where the heart valve surgery was performed. He was naturally concerned and wanted me to go through a battery of tests. The next day it was back to the hospital. For two days they ran a series of tests, too many to remember, from heart to brain, and basically found nothing out of the ordinary. They ruled out TIA's or strokes as they could find no evidence of a previous stroke like condition.

In summary, one of the attending physicians told me that he thought I had a form of migraine headache that can occur after a traumatic situation, such as major surgery. I accepted that and moved on with my life.

Six months later, it happened again. The events, as I call them, last from 30 seconds to a minute or so. Before and after, I feel totally normal. One of the residual affects of these events are headaches, not overly severe, but persistent, which may last for 2 or 4 hours. In most instances, I may have 10 or 12 of these 30 second events over a 24 to 36 hour time frame, then they disappear, like nothing happened, only to return, unannounced again, in 4 or 5 months. They always occur on my left side, always lasting for 24 hours or so, then disappear again. The only other residual affect that I can notice is a partial loss of my taste buds, causing my food to taste bland, for maybe a half day, then things are normal again.

I have no clue if these events are indeed migraine related. I know I never had them before my heart surgery and it seems like I may be stuck with this condition. It is manageable, I'm not as concerned as I once was, but nonetheless I would like to hear from others. Maybe I'm missing something, maybe the doctors missed something, or maybe others have had similar experiences. The doctors claim its nothing serious, but to me it remains somewhat of a concern.