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Post operative effects

Nine years ago i had a "Minimally Invasive Mitral Valve repair". I awoke from the anesthetic with a migraine aura.

In the weeks following I was experiencing up to five attacks a day! The good news was they were "Silent" migraines. No debilitating pain but still the nausea, sensitivity to lights and visual disturbances for thirty minutes that precluded driving and the low intensity post migraine headache. Over about six months the frequency lessened, to one daily then a few a week and then settled down to one or two a week. Standard triggers- low blood sugar/hangover/stress etc.

  1. Hi Jim65a,

    I've heard from other patients who have an increase in migraine attack frequency after surgery. Good to hear they decreased over time.

    Nancy

    1. I had a Meckel's Cave Schwannoma 20 years ago. My headaches/migraines have gotten progressively worse since then. I have had repeated MRIs showing no regrowth of the tumor. I do have encephalomalacia. But even the strongest of medications (Botox, infusion therapy) don't work for me. I have had the migraine decompression surgery as well but that didn't do anything for me. So the search goes on I guess.

      1. Hi Marenator2000,

        Thank you for sharing that with us. I am sorry you are having a rough time - you're not alone!!

        May I ask if you take something every day, or nearly every day to help relieve your pain? Makes sense as we just want the pain to go away. However, one problem we can get into is called rebound headache. Our risk of rebound may increase if we take pain medications and/or migraine medications, whether they are over-the-counter or prescription, more than two to three days a week. If we are in a rebound cycle our migraine attacks may be more difficult to treat and we can end up in a daily cycle of pain that too may be hard to break. Let me share this information on this with you; https://migraine.com/living-migraine/stop-rebound-headaches/.

        Try not to lose hope, there are over 100 medications and supplements that can be used to treat migraine disease. The thing about starting new medications is it can take up to 90 days when we start them before we see a reduction in our migraine frequency and severity. When you get a chance, take a look at this information; https://migraine.com/blog/migraine-preventives-start/.

        I hope this helps!
        Nancy

        1. I've been to numerous neurologists and they have prescribed a multitude of daily preventatives but they either don't work or lose their effect very shortly after I start taking them. I take imitrex for bad headaches. I have the pill form and injection. It so happens this weekend has been very bad for me. Yesterday I woke up with a nasty migraine, had to take 2 imitrex shots, and those didn't work. Thats unusual because there normally is some sort of relief. But the migraine didn't go away at all yesterday. Today I woke up with the migraine again. I took a shot of imitrex this morning, again no relief. I can take another shot in about 20 minutes. But if it doesn't provide any relief, I will probably go to the ER.
          I am almost 100% positive I have barometric pressure induced headaches. I live in Ohio and right now the weather is absolutely horrible. The temperature goes up and down all the time. Nothing is really steady here when it comes to weather. I get migraines when it's going to rain and when it actually rains. So the thought is there to relocate somewhere in the US where there isn't much change with the pressure or weather.

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