What are the symptoms of arteriovenous malformations?

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What are the symptoms of arteriovenous malformations?

You may or may not have symptoms if you have an arteriovenous malformation. Up to 15% of people with AVMs don’t have symptoms. Often, the first sign you have an AVM is after it bleeds.

Brain AVM: If you have a brain AVM and it leads to a blood vessel bleed (rupture), it can cause a stroke and brain damage. About 50% of people with a brain AVM have a brain bleed (hemorrhage) as their initial symptom.

AVMs can irritate the surrounding tissue, causing neurologic symptoms, including:

  • Seizures with or without loss of consciousness.
  • Headache. (The nature of pain, duration, frequency and severity vary from person to person.)
  • Muscle weakness or complete paralysis.
  • Nausea and vomiting.
  • Numbness or tingling sensation.
  • Dizziness.
  • Problems with movement, speech, memory, thinking, balance or vision.
  • Mental confusion, hallucinations or dementia.

Spinal cord AVM: If you have a spinal cord AVM, symptoms include:

  • Back pain (can be sudden and severe) or weakness in your lower body (hips) and legs to your toes.
  • Muscle weakness or paralysis in your body areas of the affected nerves.

AVMs in other locations: If you have AVMs in other locations in your body (other than your brain and spine), you may or may not have symptoms depending on their size and the significance of the location. General symptoms may include:

  • Shortness of breath during exertion.
  • Coughing up blood (if the AVM is in your lungs).
  • Abdominal pain.
  • Black stools/poop (if the AVM is in your digestive tract).
  • Lumps on arms or legs or on your trunk.
  • Pain and swelling.
  • Muscle weakness or paralysis.
  • Numbing or tingling sensation.
  • Sores or open ulcers on your skin.

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