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        New Message Board Archives >> 2004 Cluster Headache Specific Posts >> CH linked to heart defect!
        
(Message started by: alleyoop on Oct 23^rd, 2004, 10:53pm)

Title: CH linked to heart defect!
Post by alleyoop on Oct 23^rd, 2004, 10:53pm

Cluster Headache Linked to Heart Defect
Fri Oct 22, 2004 05:21 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - New research suggests that cluster headache, a severe type of headache that usually begins around one eye, often occurs together with a heart defect called patent foramen ovale (PFO), in which blood can pass through a small hole from the right to the left side of the heart without going through the lungs first.

In the fetus, the hole (foramen ovale) is open, since blood does not need pass through the lungs to pick up oxygen while the baby is in the womb. After birth, the hole normally closes, but quite often this closure is incomplete. Since it is a small defect, people are often unaware that they have an open (patent) foramen ovale.

As reported in the medical journal Neurology, Dr. Cinzia Finocchi and colleagues, from the University of Genoa in Italy, used ultrasound to look for PFO in 40 people with cluster headache and 40 similar subjects without such headaches.

There was evidence of PFO in 17 patients with cluster headache compared with just 7 headache-free subjects. Having a cluster headache more than tripled the odds of having a PFO.

So, why do the two conditions often occur together? The reason is unclear, but it may relate to lower oxygen levels in the blood. With PFO, blood that bypasses lungs carries less oxygen than normal, and previous reports have suggested that poorly oxygenated blood may help induce cluster headaches.

Further studies are needed to better understand the association between cluster headache and PFO, the investigators conclude.

SOURCE: Neurology, October 12, 2004.

Title: Re: CH linked to heart defect!
Post by unsolved1 on Oct 24^th, 2004, 1:55am

[smiley=wave.gif]Leaky Heart Valve here. Anyone else ??

Unsolved

Title: Re: CH linked to heart defect!
Post by PerryGR on Oct 24^th, 2004, 11:40am

I was born with PFO but i was told i've grown out of it. Maybe i should get my heart checked again...

PFDAN to all,
Perry.

Title: Re: CH linked to heart defect!
Post by Biker on Oct 24^th, 2004, 1:53pm

Not sure about a hole in my heart. I may want to look into that. (well at least have someone else peer through the hole) May explain some of the mystery about why oxygen has pretty good success of aborting a CH. If I can get to my welding tanks soon enough, I am usually able to excape the monster.

Title: Re: CH linked to heart defect!
Post by Kris_in_SJ on Oct 24^th, 2004, 8:02pm

Sorry - not here.

Had a virus a few years back that gave me an inflammation of the heart lining (pericarditis). Anyway, had an ultrasound and cardiac echocardiogram that visualizes the heart - no abnormalities seen. It seems that would be something an echocardiogram would pick up.

Perhaps I need an echohypothalamusgram!

Kris

Title: Re: CH linked to heart defect!
Post by jmorgan52 on Oct 25^th, 2004, 10:21am

I have had 2 full check ups by a heart specialist in the past 10 years including ultrasound, ecg etc and my valves were pronounced 100%

This sounds like clutching at straws to me

John

Title: Re: CH linked to heart defect!
Post by Bob_Johnson on Oct 25^th, 2004, 12:42pm

John, it's a good example of how the same symptom or disorder can arise from different sources.

We have long talked about the role of sleep apnea and clusters--the topic of many messages here and medical reports. Here, we have another source of the lowered oxygen level which appears to trigger a cluster attack.