More Studies Linking Hole In Heart To Some Migraines
About this time last year, research from Chicago’s Rush University Medical Center noted the correlation between “hole in the heart” (PFO) and migraines.
The Truth Is Out There
PFOs (not to be confused with UFOs) PFO (patent foramen ovale) is a teeny-tiny hole in your heart thought to be caused by a birth defect. This is not a lethal condition, but it is thought to affect 25% of the human population. PFOs are also thought to have something to do with strokes.
At the time the Rush study announced their findings, they also were looking for volunteers for a clinical trial called MIST II held in over 40 medical centers and hospitals across America.
Sadly, that study was cancelled, but another study from Philadelphia’s Thomas Jefferson Univeristy Hospital is backing up last year’s study and a previous one done in the UK. The study was led by Dr. Stephen Silberstein.
What Did Silberstien Find Out?
Dr. Silberstein looked at 131 migraineurs. Of those 131, 86 for them has PFO as well. That’s about 66%. All of the migraineurs in the study did not know if they had PFO or not — but they sure as hell knew they had migraines.
Actually, 182 people werein the study, but only 131 completed it, so we’re just going to focus on that lot. Dr. Silverstein also noted that there were patients with other kinds of RLS, of which PFO is the most famous member. What’s RLS? That stands for “Right to Left Shunt”. This shunt, nomatter what string of letters you want to call it, apparently has some blood skip going through the lungs to be filtered. Silberstein also noted that 55 patients in the study had “a moderate to large amount of bubbles streaming into the brain.”
How this all causes migraines, exactly, is unknown. What bubbles into the brain has to do with ANYTHING is beyond me…but I tell you, I’ll never be able to look at a glass of carbonated soda in the same way ever again.
As always, this study ended with a call to do more clinical studies. Anything involving both migraines and strokes means big money to any Big Pharma agent sniffing around and hopefully the next logical step could be taken — can we close this hole in the heart witout surgery and, even if we had to get surgery, does it stop all migraines?
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