My Experience with Patent Foramen Ovale

The Superstition Mountain wilderness area, about 100 miles from Phoenix, AZ. If anyone wants a guided tour I can hook you up with a person who knows the mountains almost like the back of his hands. Let me know if you do.

It was around October - November, 2007 when I became aware of the relationship between a PFO and migraine headaches. It was in this same time frame that I started visiting Dr. Teresa Latendress, a naturopathic physician from the Hickory, NC area. Dr. T. also brought up that I might have a PFO.

This was just too coincidental I thought. I saw this article in the back pages of a newspaper and then Dr. T. mentioning this to me within a couple of short weeks. Wow, I thought, this has got to be my problem.

I threw all financial caution to the wind and immediately made an appointment with a cardiologist to be checked. I didn't even check with my insurance company on coverage, I was so sure this was the resolve to my 40 year experience with headaches that I didn't care what I had to pay to get it fixed.

I went in for my first appointment with the cardiologist in Lincolnton, NC. We had a nice discussion. She was questioning me severely, asking why I thought that there was a connection between PFO and migraines. I laid it on the line to her. I have had headaches for 40 years, I have not found a fix, I have done research into the subject on the web and have found that many doctors feel there is a link between the two. I showed her some of the articles that I printed out and nearly had to force her to read them.

After a long pause she admitted to me that a relationship between PFO and migraine headaches had been suspected for a while. She said there was no "proof" of it yet and therefore she wasn't able to actually discuss it. But, she did agree to have me tested for a PFO. I think she realized that there was enough evidence to back my theory up.

At the same time we discussed methods of dealing with my insurance company. She agreed to put on her report that we were checking for a PFO because there was a history of stroke in my family (which there is). This way she was confident that the big boys with the power, money and influence (insurance companies) wouldn't deny payment. She told me that if she reported that we were checking for a PFO as a cause of migraine headaches all payment would probably be denied.

What did I find out? That's the subject of my next blog.

Natural Headache Relief, Causes of Daily Headaches, MSG and Headaches are all discussed in the FeelingOuststanding.com web page. If you suffer from headaches, check them out. The information may be very helpful.

Here's to your health, here's to feeling outstanding!