Migraines not the cause of Harvin’s episode?

By Adam Silverstein
August 23, 2010

It is no surprise that migraine headaches have been taunting former Florida Gators wide receiver Percy Harvin since his youth, and it was no shock to anyone when the 2009 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year missed a few weeks of Minnesota Vikings training camp while dealing with an extreme bout along with the loss of his grandmother.

What was both surprising and shocking, however, was news Thursday that Harvin vomited, collapsed and was rushed to the hospital while standing on the sidelines during a team practice.

Migraines have caused him to react similarly – but less violently – in the past.

Calling Harvin’s headaches “the riddle they can’t solve,” Vikings head athletic trainer Eric Sugarman informed NBC Sports’ Andrea Kremer over the weekend that the team’s medical staff believes something other than his migraines caused his latest episode.

Sugarman said Harvin did not pass out as a direct result of the migraine but rather as a complication of other factors, which may include an adverse reaction to medication, dehydration and low blood pressure. Sugarman, who spoke carefully because of privacy issues, said that Harvin has tried so many different medications that the treatment becomes a puzzle – trying different pieces before finding one that fits. He will likely need to be on medication for life for which doctors must find the proper formula.

When OGGOA interviewed Harvin in May, we asked him specifically about his trip to the Mayo Clinic and whether or not doctors there had been able to help him make any headway in overcoming his lifelong battle with migraines.

“It’s a work in progress. I had a few of them still over the break. It’s just something I’ll either have to grow out of or figure out something,” he told us. “I’ve been to numerous doctors and it’s a work in progress. It’s different things. It can be the weather, the pollen. It can be a lot of things that can trigger them. And that’s what we’re trying to figure out now – certain things to help me.”

Harvin’s most recent hospital stay revealed that he neither had a heart problem nor a seizure; oxygen was not cut off to his brain when he passed out. He was simply monitored and given an IV along with standard care at the facility before being released.

Even so, he has visited with “approximately 20 doctors” including neurologists, cardiologists, internists, nutritionists, physical therapists, acupuncturists and chiropractors over the last year. NBC Sports also reports that Minnesota receives “stacks of letters and up to 60 calls” a day from fans who believe they have remedies.

Overcoming numerous odds already in his life – from abandonment by his father to numerous injuries in college and even perceived behavioral problems in high school – Harvin’s greatest fight remains within his own body.

Photo Credit: Getty Images

4 Comments

  1. Timmy T says:

    Good luck going forward, Percy. Hopefully, you can get a grasp on the root of the problem, and continue your life without migraines hindering your career.

    Hey ADAM, any info on this weekend’s scrimmage?

  2. Daniel M. says:

    Gotta wonder what the long term prognosis is for a guy that suffers from migraines and makes his living at an office that thrives on hitting your co-workers, often in the head.

  3. TT – No, not right now.

  4. Timmy T says:

    Thanks ADAM. Urbie and Co. have that place on lockdown this year.

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