Migraine

After posting all I have over the past few days, the cardiac research coordinator contacted me quicker than expected on Wednesday afternoon!

I am scheduled for the TEE on September 19th. At this time, if the cardiologist likes what he sees, he will randomize me for the implant and I will either get the real deal or the placebo surgery. If he thinks he can't patch the hole, they will bring me out of anesthesia and send me home.

Either way, I get a vacation out of it!

The majority of my unknowns are done with, so now I am just left to freak out over the procedure itself. For the time being, I feel pretty calm.

Hi Leeloo,

I think I got lost somewhere. What is the placebo? I thought this was all about patching the hole.

Take care, Bob

Hi Bob,

Unfortunately the FDA does not approve patching a PFO just for migraine sufferers. If I had 2 strokes from a blood clot within a specific time frame, then it could be closed and insurance would pay for it, etc.

But for migraines, the hole has to be patched within the parameters of the study, which has a control arm and a study arm. The control arm receives no device and is watched for placebo effect. The study arm gets the device and is monitored for the effects the device has on migraines.

It hasn't been proven yet whether closing the PFO relieves migrainuers of many of their attacks. For some, it eradicates them completely. For others, it doesn't, or it reduces them. This is why the study is in place.

There's no guarantee that I will get the device, but I have a 2:3 chance for it. Either way, I hope to help the research. In other countries that have done the study already, they have found it to be effective, but we have to do our own studies.

If the PFO closure is found to be effective, and I did not receive the device initially, it will be offered to me once 12-14 months of the study are finished with.

Hi Leeloo,

So, the device is the patch, right?

Good luck, Bob

You are correct, sir!

Best of luck to you, Leeloo, with no freaking out!