I am now over 8 months out since minimally invasive OHS to repair mitral and tricuspid valves and thought I would add some data to this. First, the only new med I am on since surgery is 12.5 mg of metoprolol per day, other than that nothing has changed since before surgery.
Years before surgery: Experienced very occasional migraine with aura, maybe once every few years starting in my 40's. Auras always started with a small blind spot in my vision, followed by crescent shaped ring of flashing geometric lights well illustrated in an earlier post. This lasts about 20 minutes followed by nausea and sometime confusion and headache lasting for a few hours.
More Recently in my 60s before OHS: Started to have more frequent events, maybe monthly or more. I am wondering now if this is somehow related to my deteriorating heart valve performance? After keeping a diary and eliminating different possible causes - sleep, diet, activity, etc. I am now convinced my "trigger" for these events is light - and in particular blue light.
Since having OHS at age 68: Since having OHS, I now have auras much more frequently (as often as twice a week), but the good news is they don't seem to manifest themselves into the nausea / headache phase. I have stopped taking medications for them, and usually just sit them out if need be depending on what I am doing for about 20 minutes and they pass. I believe the severity of the actual auras themselves seem to be diminishing with time (not so visually dramatic), and they are bilateral as I can close either eye and the aura image is still there. I have golfed, lifted weights, etc while having them which gives you an idea that they are not so severe. Hopefully they will continue to diminish, and the trigger again seems to be blue light.