Crowbar, it is possible your scintillating scotomas  are induced by an electrolyte imbalance  in your body. Apparently such an imbalance can induce a small voltage spike in your brain which sets up a small, slow-moving standing wave that propagates across your frontal cortex, frying the dendrites of the neurons as it sweeps through. Apparently the dendrites do grow back over time (thankfully). If your ss's are due to such an imbalance, the carotid artery surgery probably would not prevent you from having scotomas.

The information I just described is based on my understanding of research papers I read when I began to suffer from ss's. I began getting ss's shortly after my doctor prescribed me an ace inhibitor and a non-potassium sparing diuretic for mild hypertension. Before this I very rarely got any kind of headache. Within 2 weeks I was hospitalized for a life-threateningly low potassium level, which fortunately was easily treated by a one-time IV administration of potassium. The ss's continued after this incident even after I changed blood pressure medication to a beta blocker and no diuretic. I was sent to a neurologist for the ss's. An MRI ruled out stroke, TIA, etc. The neurologist recommended an over-the-counter supplement called Migrelief that helped me tremendously. It contains magnesium, riboflavin and feverfew. Perhaps this formulation addresses the electrolyte imbalance that can cause ss's. Regardless of how it works, I had no ss's when I took it daily for a few years (unless I stopped for a few days) and I still keep it around because I found that if I feel a scotoma coming on and take a and a glass of water right away, the scotoma stays in the corner of my visual field where it first appeared, and it dissipates before it can sweep across my field of vision, which greatly reduces its negative effect on me.

I hope any of this information helps you or other ss sufferers who happen to read this.

Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 16, 2012, at 3:55 AM, scintillating-scotoma@googlegroups.com wrote: