Sh!t For Brains AVM Blog

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For Everyone Who Wishes They Weren't Interested in Arterio-Venous Malformations and Brain Surgery

Is That a Giant Sucking Sound, or is it Just Me?

There are international agreements governing trade, and countries who are parties to the agreements take on certain obligations that prevents them from erecting barriers to free trade. For example, customs rules. A country must agree to publish instructions on what you must do in order to get things through customs. Sounds simple, but there is a reason the rule was needed. In order to protect domestic industries, countries come up with clever and sneaky ways to foil trade. Many only published lists of things that you can't do if you want to get things through customs. An affirmative idea is infinitely more powerful than a negative. Imagine if you asked my how to roast a chicken, and I said, "Don't boil it." Not very helpful, although technically true.

Lately I have been inspired by this concept as it relates to personal healing, both for my brain and my spirit. I don't want my AVM to bleed, I don' want to have gamma knife again, I don't want a craniotomy, I don't want a seizure, a migraine, or an anuerysm.

These are all really general thoughts and fears, diffuse and tress induceing. They don't really address my hopes, my wants or desires. From now on I am trying to channel my thoughts into the affirmative. I want the AVM to be obliterated. I want my brain to heal. I want to relax. If I give my brain clear instructions, I am hoping to remove the barriers to healing. A treaty, if you will, to root out the sneaky processes that undermine progress. And while Ross Perot might disagree with my logic, I'm hoping the benefits will lead to better relations between my body and mind...after all, they're stuck being neighbors, they might as well get along.

Injecting Black "Goo" Into Brain May Nullify Surgery

Injecting Black "Goo" Into Brain May Nullify Surgery


In this age of high-tech medical breakthroughs, some brain surgeons say it's a simple black "goo" that's yielding some pretty remarkable results. It's called Onyx. Doctors are injecting it into their patients' brains to treat AVMs, or arterio-venous malformations. They are tangled coils of arteries and veins. In the past, the only way to treat them was by performing risky operations to cut them out. Now, doctors can inject Onyx into the AVM with eye-opening results.

Louis Caragine, M.D. at Ohio State University Medical Center says he often injects the black goo into his patients on Mondays, and schedules them for follow-up surgery two days later. Lately, that hasn't always been necessary.

"I'm sometimes able to cure the AVM or reduce its size so substantially, that I don't feel it's any longer justified for me to take them to surgery on Wednesday and open their head," says Caragine.

In fact, a recent study showed that the Onyx liquid reduced the size of AVMs an average of 75%, and cured some of them altogether, making surgery unnecessary.*

It's estimated about three million Americans have AVMs, although many don't even know it until they rupture or cause seizures.**

"Patients normally do not know they have it, until it bleeds and usually can hemorrhage and cause a stroke when a patient is in their 20's, 30's or 40's," says Caragine.

Next, doctors want to test Onyx to see if it can help patients survive strokes.

*Brain AVM Embolization with Onyx, American Journal of Neuroradiology , January 2007, vol 28, 172 - 177.

**What is an arteriovenous malformation? American Stroke Association, retrieved February 2008

Ohio State University Medical Center