This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Knowledge & Support Community

on CCSVI in Multiple Sclerosis facebook page there is a link to this "condition" on the site "medicinenet.com".....is this a Canadian site?....I don't know if this is a new subject on here or not, but it sounds exactly like CCSVI and MS.... symptoms, etc.....what's up with that?

AVMs are similar but with some differences. Instead of being "just" a problem with the low-flow drainage from the brain, an AVM is when the high-flow arteries and low flow veins meet up in a tangled clump of intermixing veins and arteries. Like CCSVI it reduces oxygenation of the brain. But I have argued in the past that it has some big differences too. Plus it has the advantage of being visually identifiable on the imaging, unlike CCSVI where you can be told it's ok to have veins like that...no one argues that it is okay to have an AVM!

My brother had an AVM. It ruptured in his brain on Sept 1 2009. Basically, he had a stroke at age 33. I, 35, was Dx with MS Oct 15th while watching and praying for my brother to survive.

OK sob story out of the way He is doing ok. He has to use a cane and was paralyzed on his left side. I say was because he is getting better daily and can now lift his left arm and leg.

An AVM is not like CCSVI. Simliar in the sense that there is a malformation but that is about it. The horror of an AVM is that a lot of the time, the person has no idea they have it. The "arteries and low flow veins meet up in a tangled clump" are sometimes overlooked by the body. My bro for instance was in top physical condition AND going for grad school. Then one night, the clump burst and blood flowed into the brain. Reflux? maybe? but on a deathly scale.

CCSVI COULD be considered a cousin of the AVM but without the clutter efffect. Slow death of the brain by reflux blood instead of the burst that my bro had.

The oddity is that my bro has this "vascular malformation" and I might have CCSVI (once I get tested) soooo... genectics anyone? Oh and an AVM is usually a birth defect.