AVM

i have a brain arteriovenous malformation [AVM]
its a collection of blood vessels that are abnormal in my brain.
the [AVM] is composed of a tangle of arteries and veins that form a clump. arteries are those large, thick walled blood vessels that carry blood from the heart to the brain under high pressure; while veins are the softer blood vessels that carry blood back to the heart [veins can usually be seen on the back of your hand]. so, the tangle of blood vessels that make an, AVM may be large, with the tangle web of blood vessels being serveral inches across, or small, perhaps the size of an olive. AVMs are supplied by arteries that branch off of normal brain arteries. it can be visualized as a branch on a tree that goes to a bad portion of the tree. typically there are one to four arteries that supply an AVM, occasionally more. these arteries can be blocked off or removed at surgery safely [so they say] because they supply only the AVM, not the normal brain.


they [my neurologist's] think i was born with the AVM, kind of like a birthmark. there is no known cause for why people have AVMs, and its probably a random event as the brain develops.


brain AVMs dont grow like a tumor. generally they remain about the same size after they are diagnosed. however the blood vessels that compose an AVM can change over time. some arteries and veins may get larger or portions of the blood vessels may close up. some vessels may dilate. these dilations on an artery are called aneurysms; on the veins the dilations are called varices [like varicose veins that can occasionally be found on your leg]. rarely AVMs may get notably bigger or smaller.


there are basically three things that can happen to an AVM to cause problems: bleeding, seizures, or steal blood from the normal brain. right now all i can tell you is, i have seizures.