Linda's Posts

Yup. I had dozens of optical migraines per day for months after my heart surgery. None were accompanied by the miserable headaches and nausea that I had as a teenager, though. Luckily for me, the number of the auras gradually decreased in the weeks and months after surgery. Now I am back to my “normal” 2-3 a year. Incidentally, I do take magnesium 400 mg at night, and 100 of CoQ 10 every morning..Hope yours go away!

I had this happen after my cardiac cath in November. I have had migraine with aura for 17 years, but I know my triggers and keep them under control. I have had very few migraines this past year. Zero actually, until the procedure. The same day I had two aura migraines, and multiple over the next week. Then they stopped again. I've never had so many in one day. My husband asked a nurse friend and she said that happened to her as well. Hopefully yours will slow down and stop soon. I bet I will have the same thing happen after my surgery in January. Everyone is so different, but if it helps, for migraine with aura I take a zrtec allergy pill every day, multivitamin, vitamin B complex, coQ10, and a DHA fish oil. I hope they stop for you soon.

I definitely have more after my mitral valve repair. Some people say hydrating with mineral solutions/ electrolytes helps. I think I've discovered that too much caffeine is correlated with my visual disturbances (rarely any headache afterwards). So I kind of do both the electrolyte hydration when exercising, and I've cut down on coffee, and I have to say that seems to be helping. Had one this morning while driving, but not serious. I had 2 cups of coffee on an empty stomach then drove 3 hours into the morning sun. I know bright light triggers some people. I stopped and got some early lunch and I'm good. So right now hydration and limited caffeine are my plan. Hope that gives you some things to try.

I find that mine are triggered by a combination of over tired, under-caffeinated, and flashed of intensely bright light such as a windshield or chrome flash. I used to get them several times a week along with dizzy spells/vertigo, and they dropped off dramatically after surgery. I get less than one a month now, and they are short-lived but exhausting. A little bit of chocolate or coffee and my head down/eyes closed for a few minutes and I'm good to go in about 10 minutes. I hope you find a solution soon! Meredith Clearwater, FL

Linda, I'm glad you're doing well. We're all different, and certainly, if you have concerns and questions, call your cardiologist's office and ask questions. I fought a few rounds with post-op afib, which stopped after a few weeks. Was on warfarin just over three months and it was stopped after they had me wear a Holter-monitor type device for a couple of days and no concerning rhythm issues were found. We had to tweak my dose of Metoprolol and eventually that was stopped, as well.