MAGNUM Nearly Loses Its Founder, A Life Long Migraineur, to a Major Heart Attack

© Michael John Coleman 2009.

"Attack On Freedom"  If you ever wondered what a heart attack looks like through the eyes of an artist, look no more!  In an effort to keep my cool while I was fighting to breath and stay calm--no small feat-so I deployed the only trick I knew - focus on my art and tried to get the perfect image of the new Littoral Combat Ship USS Freedom on her first Deployment, with the National's Capitol Dome in the far background or the right on the waterline horizon!
    

While International News Agencies MSNBC & Others Point Out Studies Support  Migraineurs have Twice the Chance of Heart Attacks & Strokes!

WASHINGTON, D.C.; FRIDAY MAY 9th, 2009-Updated MAY 23 - Special By Michael John Coleman, MAGNUM Executive Director

When I was a young man I was employed as an Art Director working for Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) down the road from MAGNUM's current offices in a beautiful place called Crystal City, Virginia.  It was the pulse of the Cold War ship design and innovation which helped to win that forty year conflict. With that little tale of how history touches all, a lesson all too often retold on Memorial Day.

So let me tell you a personal story related my possible Migraine induced heart attack (Ouch!) echoed in a recent study which reported some Migraine sufferers have twice the chance of heart attacks and, or strokes.  Many readers we know have seen the MSNBC TV broadcast "Killer Headache: Migraines Hike Stroke Risk" which originally aired last March, and again recently this month.  MAGNUM, both here at www.MigraineBlog.com  and www.migraines.org offering anecdotal evidence that MAGNUM for purposes of discussion find statically provocatively significant. In other words we constantly hear  stories about friends or family member who has suffered Migraines for decades only succumb to an unwelcome cardiovascular event regardless of a total lack of risk factors such as poor eating habits, smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure, abuse of alcohol, abuse of drugs, obesity, and lots of Kielbasa AKA Polish sausage & eggs every morning for decades! 

The fact is scientists agree Migraine disease is a risk factor for life threatening cardiovascular conditions such as Stroke and heart attack.

Recent studies show those who suffer from Migraine disorder with aura have double, perhaps triple, the risk of stroke or heart attack, compared with non-Migraineurs (people who don't get migraines).
 
In a study of 175 people completed last year, University of Toledo neurologist Gretchen Tietjen - who treated Leslie after her stroke - found that nearly a third of those with migraines had signs of blood vessel damage, almost five times higher than the controls.

 In the Kurth T, et al. "Migraine and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease in Men." Published in the respected medical journal "Archives of Internal Medicine" a couple years ago settled the argument as far as I was concerned. [2007;167:795-801]