On Thursday I had my 6 month MRI and was told that there has been no change in my avm yet, now I have to go back in another 6 months to see if the gamma knife worked.
They say it takes time. Did you have to embolize it first?
Hi Ksucat, I had 5 embolization's before the gamma knife
How was that experience? Would you do it again? Did yours have symptoms? What size is it? Sorry for asking so much. I am in a waiting period to see if there is anything they can even do with mine.
The embolization's weren't bad at all for me, I had a bad experience with the gamma knife, but I think it had to more with the nurses I had that day than the gamma knife itself. My avm was 5-6cm when we started in my occipital lobe and as far as side effect I have had some vision change and after the embolization I had some hair loss. If you have to have an embolization and are worried about hair loss I would suggest taking biotin (a vitamin) for a while before and after the procedure. It helps hair grow back faster and I think it helps prevent the hair from falling out also.
How long did you go between embolizations? Where did you have your treatments and who is your doctor?
I could care less about losing my hair at this point.
I had my treatments at Gates Hospital in buffalo ny and I have dr. Siddiqui. I had to wait at least 6 weeks between treatments but some of mine waited a little longer so I could still continue with college. my first was in June 2011 then in august, November, January, then my next was scheduled for march but was moved up to February because of an emergency.