Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM) survival and side effects

I had an AVM rupture in the right parietal lobe of my brain 3/16/2014 and had to have emergency brain surgery to remove it. Dr. Ringer with the Mayfield Clinic here in Cincinnati, OH performed the 8 hour surgery. I remember about a total of 24 hours of the month I spent in the hospital. I had 9 months of outpatient OT, PT and speech therapies. The years leading up to the large rupture I had chronic ocular migraines with a kalidescope effect in left peripheral vision. And I also had meningitis 2 years prior; unbeknownst to me was probably a small bleed of the AVM. The long lasting and probably forever effects that I continue to have are chronic head rushes and headaches, tinitus, loss of peripheral vision on the left side, difficulty following words on a page, chronic anxiety and sensitivity to lights and noises. I still have aphasia, but have understanding family and friends. I am grateful I survived and have this amazing perspective now which I wish all could have without the near death experience! I have completely immersed myself into creating art now, currently ceramics on the potters wheel. I have a theory once it was removed the right side of my brain started to get better blood flow or something because I am completely compelled to create now, where previous to the tbi I thrived in interpersonal skills. I work full time from home doing sales and service for upscale retailers. I have to take frequent breaks to regroup, but, my employer is very understanding. I'm sure I'm leaving a lot of info out if anyone has questions let me know! ********* "My Beautiful Broken Brain" on netflix is an amazing self-made film of a woman who had an AVM rupture. I highly recommend watching. 💜

Hi, @stellgma - glad to hear from you and that you are doing well and not experiencing headaches. That is unfortunate the daily aspirin the doctor put you on is irritating your stomach.

You mentioned your primary care doctor put you on ranitidine (Zantac) now. Is that helping the nausea and stomach issues at all?

Hi! I’m doing well. No headaches, but my dr put me on 325 mg a day aspirin which seems to be irritating my stomach. A lot of nausea. 😖 He reduced it to 81mg at my brain angiogram on sept7, but still not better yet. My primary care Dr put me on Zantac 2x a day yesterday...hoping this helps! My 3rd lesion apparently is in a bone and is not using a brain vein to drain at this time so the surgeon will do an MRA in a year to check it.

Hi - some of you have mentioned arteriovenous malformations (AVMs), and I'm wondering how things are going. I'm sure others will benefit from hearing about your experiences.

@stellgma - have you continued to be pain free following your craniotomy? Do you know if you will be getting gamma knife radiation on the third lesion found in the surgery?

@tanvir22 - how is your brother doing?

@auldcelt - how are your headaches?

Hello! I recently had open brain surgery (craniotomy) at Mayo to treat a 2nd fistula that couldn’t be safely reached by embolization. At day 23 I am pain free! No headaches, pressure or nausea!! It was a rough 22 days after surgery-lots of Tylenol and icing my head. It was discovered during surgery that I have a 3rd lesion that will probably need gamma knife radiation. It’s been a real rollercoaster ride the last 11 months, but I have total faith in my Mayo Clinic neurosurgeon in Rochester.

Hi Susan, Untangling all the conditions and symptom, and their associated acronyms can be confusing.

Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT), also known as Osler-Weber-Rendu disease, is a genetic disorder that affects blood vessels. It can cause bleeding in the digestive tract, anemia, increased risk of stroke and other symptoms.

With HHT some of the networks of blood vessels that join arteries to veins (capillaries) aren't correctly formed. In small blood vessels, these abnormalities are called telangiectases. When they occur in larger vessels, they're called arteriovenous malformations (AVMs). People who have HHT may have both kinds of malformations.

Here's more information about HHT from Mayo Clinic https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hht/symptoms-causes/syc-20351135

AVMs can occur for a variety of reasons. Having HHT is one possible cause.
AVM is explained in this article https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/brain-avm/symptoms-causes/syc-20350260

I hope this helps.

I haven’t heard that name used for my AVM-dura brain fistulas by the neurosurgeons-not sure.

Is AVM the same as Osler-Weber-Rendu? (Also known as HHT)

I had that too-an embolization. My procedure closed part of the fistula, but they couldn’t safely get it all. I have an appt at Mayo in May to find out if the dr can do open brain surgery to remove a 2nd fistula. Best wishes to your brother!

Thanks @stellgma! I am not sure of the medical terms but he had the procedure that involved the medical glue to stop blood flow to the AVM.