Another post-ablation visual migraine

I had my ablation surgery with Dr. Hongo on Feb. 27. On March 7 and again on March 11, I had what my doctors are calling a visual migraine as a result of the hole that was opened in my atrium during the ablation surgery.

On June 26, almost 4 months after my ablation, I had another visual migraine, though much more mild than the first two. I had vision distortion in my right eye for about 15 minutes, followed by a mild headache for several hours and some nausea for about an hour.

I told my local cardiologist about it yesterday, and he said the hole may not be closed yet, though he said in most cases it should be healed by now. Dr. Hongo had said that the hole should be healed within 3 months for I told him about it during my three week followup. So I'm wondering what is happening and if anyone else has experienced this so of thing so long about surgery??

Nancy M

Hi Nancy,

I posted about visual migraines on another post, but I have gotten what my optometrist calls "optical" migraines before with no pattern whatsoever. I have not had an ablation and I don't understand the correlation there; but mine start with a "silvery" aura in my peripheral vision and as soon as I see that, if I eat something sweet -- just a piece of candy or cookie, it stops before the vision gets worse or going into a headache. I also sit or lie down after eating it for about 10 minutes with my eyes closed. My Dr. thinks it's low blood sugar -- although sometimes when it happens I have eaten not that long ago.

So they seem to be a mystery, but you might try the "sweet fix!"

Louise

Thanks Louise,

I think mine are related to my recent ablation and they don't seem to be connected with low blood sugar.

Nancy M

Nancy its unusual for those kind of symptoms to occur this far out from an ablation and still be related to the transeptal puncture unless your tissue there is very slow healing or perhaps you might also gave a remnant PFO (patent foramin ovale) or 'hole in the heart' , and which is not that uncommon, in the same area as the puncture? A TEE and bubble study could perhaps define whether of not any thing along the LAA septal wall is contributing to this, but they might need to see symptoms more significant and frequent before order and expensive as a TEE.

It may well not be related to the heart at this point. Good luck on sorting it out, hopefully it just resolves soon as is.

Shannon

Shannon - It may not be standard, but I thought if you had an existing PFO, they used that 'port' for the catheters rather than make a new puncture.
Maybe that's 'old school' but I recall corresponding with several people who reported that.

I also know a person who had atrial fibrillation and the PFO. When they repaired the PFO, the afib disappeared without a formal ablation procedure. This was at least 25 years ago and probably they would manage it differently now... but she remains afib free.

Jackie

When I talked to Dr. Hongo after my March 11 visual migraine, he did not say that I had a natural hole in my heart in that area but that he had made a hole for the ablation. He thought that it should close within 2-3 months. Since this new migraine was 4 months out, I'm hoping that I am just slow to heal as could be the case as my immune system is low, I am having chronic insomnia, and notice that other cuts or bruises aren't healing as fast as they used to. This one was much milder than the first two, so I'm hoping there won't be any more.

Thanks for your input, Shannon and Jackie.