Official Diagnosis

After meeting with Dr. Sherman Sorensen yesterday I got the diagnosis of ASD (Atrial Septal Defects)
During fetal development, the upper chambers of the heart (atria) divide into right and left sides. In some, the closure is incomplete leaving a "hole in the heart". This hole or defect in the atrial divider (septum) is an Atrial Septal Defect or ASD. Since pressure in the right side of the heart is lower than the left side, blood can flow from the lungs directly through the ASD back to the right heart; re-circulation through the lungs again and again. This abnormal recycling of blood through the lungs is called "shunting". The amount of blood flowing (or shunting) through the lungs may be many times more than the blood flow to the rest of the body.

Shunting is an extra blood volume to the right side of the heart which can cause an overload of the heart. This overload can cause enlargement of the heart, abnormal heart rhythm, congestive heart failure, and injury to the arteries of the lungs. Increased pressure in the right side of the heart may reverse the direction of the shunt. Used blood without oxygen may dilute blood with oxygen levels in the body. Since the filtering function of the lungs is bypassed, stroke or brain abscess may occur if clots or bacteria cross the ASD into the left side of the heart.

Not all headaches are migraine headache and it is sometimes difficult to decide. A classic migraine headache is a primary headache (not due to stroke or tumor) which is usually one sided, throbbing, severe, and usually comes with nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light or sound, or motion sensitivity.

I had this test done ~ Trans-Cranial Doppler (TCD) is a new test which measures brain artery blood flow by using safe ultrasound echo probes placed on the surface of both sides of the head. If microscopic bubbles injected through an IV shunt past the lungs to the left heart, TCD detects and counts each bubble as it appears in the brain arteries. TCD is not only the most sensitive way to diagnosis right-to-left shunt, it is the best way to quantify shunt.

For more information: http://sorensenmd.com/index.php

Here is more information about the procedure: http://www.amplatzer.com/products/asd_devices/tabid/179/default.aspx