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Heart Disease (Expert Forum)
Follow-up to painful palpitations and tricuspid regurgitation questions
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Follow-up to painful palpitations and tricuspid regurgitation questions
by Tim, Feb 07, 2001 12:00AM
First of all, thank you for all your responses, they've been very helpful.
The event monitor showed only PVC's. The stress echo test looked great except for one thing: The tricuspid valve is leaky. The doctor didn't think it looked too serious. He wants to look at it again in a year. Could this be connected to the PVC's or the painful PVC's? Does it cause anxiety like mitral valve prolaps seems to? Or, could my anxiety have caused the tricuspid problem? What is a typical prognoses for someone with this? I also get pressure in my face and sometimes dizziness: Could this be related to the tricuspid?
As mentioned in the original post, I have had breathing trouble for the past four years. Could my breathing difficulty be pulmonary hypertension resulting from the tricuspid anomaly? When breathing is tough, I'll get the erg for a deep breath, I'll try to take it, but I wont get that satisfied feeling. There's no fluid in the lungs, no wheezing and no asthma. In fact, doctors have not been able to give a diagnoses. My breathing gets better with regular exercise; and, when it's been bad enough for the ER my oxygen saturation has always been normal. Except for what I've mentioned here, I don't seem to have other symptoms of pulmonary hypertension or tricuspid regurgitation.
Or, does my breathing difficulty sound anxiety related?
Thanks again for your help
Tim
The event monitor showed only PVC's. The stress echo test looked great except for one thing: The tricuspid valve is leaky. The doctor didn't think it looked too serious. He wants to look at it again in a year. Could this be connected to the PVC's or the painful PVC's? Does it cause anxiety like mitral valve prolaps seems to? Or, could my anxiety have caused the tricuspid problem? What is a typical prognoses for someone with this? I also get pressure in my face and sometimes dizziness: Could this be related to the tricuspid?
As mentioned in the original post, I have had breathing trouble for the past four years. Could my breathing difficulty be pulmonary hypertension resulting from the tricuspid anomaly? When breathing is tough, I'll get the erg for a deep breath, I'll try to take it, but I wont get that satisfied feeling. There's no fluid in the lungs, no wheezing and no asthma. In fact, doctors have not been able to give a diagnoses. My breathing gets better with regular exercise; and, when it's been bad enough for the ER my oxygen saturation has always been normal. Except for what I've mentioned here, I don't seem to have other symptoms of pulmonary hypertension or tricuspid regurgitation.
Or, does my breathing difficulty sound anxiety related?
Thanks again for your help
Tim
Doctor's Answer
by CCF CARDIO MD - CRC, Feb 08, 2001 12:00AM
Dear Tim,
Thanks for the update. The good news is that nothing serious was found. Tricuspid regurgutation (TR) is a very common finding and is usually nothing to be worried about. There is no connection that I know about between TR and PVCs or anxiety. They can estimate pulmonary pressures from the echo and you could ask your doctor if the pressures were elevated. It's hard to say whether the breathing difficulties are due to anxiety or if the the anxiety is due to the breathing problems. I would make sure that all causes such as asthma, etc. have been excluded before the problems are blamed on anxiety.
Thanks for the update. The good news is that nothing serious was found. Tricuspid regurgutation (TR) is a very common finding and is usually nothing to be worried about. There is no connection that I know about between TR and PVCs or anxiety. They can estimate pulmonary pressures from the echo and you could ask your doctor if the pressures were elevated. It's hard to say whether the breathing difficulties are due to anxiety or if the the anxiety is due to the breathing problems. I would make sure that all causes such as asthma, etc. have been excluded before the problems are blamed on anxiety.
I have had alot of the same symptoms. I went for the asthma test, the one where they give you an inhalant of Metha-something. I flunked it! I was shocked too! I am on Atenolol (for pvc's), which is what they think brought these symptoms out of dormancy. Get it checked out and best of luck.
Now that I have meds for all three, I am slowly getting my life back. However I still like to sleep more then the norm. But it sure is nice not to sleep durning lunch at work.
Good Luck,
Buzz
Here are some reasons I don't think I have asthma:
1) Over the past four years breathing has been pretty consistent, it usually changes gradually over time but there are no episodes or attacks. It is usually a little better in the mourning, but not by much. My breathing is never what I would call "normal," but regular exercise will make it very tolerable. 2) There are no triggers, even though I have some allergies and usually exercise a lot. 3)Inhalers of any kind do no good at all. 4)Even when breathing is particularly bad, if I am not greedy and wait a minute or two to take a deep breath, the breath will be very satisfying. 5)Oxygen saturation has always been normal. 6)Onset of this problem was at age 26 (I am now 29). 7)Doctors have not found evidence of asthma.
Web MD says, " Symptoms of an asthma attack may start immediately or take a long time to develop....Typical symptoms of mild to moderate asthma attacks include labored breathing (wheezing), shortness of breath, tightness in the chest, coughing, and spitting up mucus." Of these, my only symptom is labored breathing.
Is it still possible I have asthma? I guess I could have an unusual form of it. I must admit, it would be great to have an actual diagnosis
Thanks again for all your responses. In particular, the doctor's comment, "Tricuspid regurgitation (TR) is a very common finding and is usually nothing to be worried about." maid me feel great!! A search for TR on the web turned up almost exclusively worst case scenarios.
-Tim
http://www.gerd.com/
read the FAQ section.
As for the asthma, reading what you posted then I don't have asthma either. However I do. Only when my asthma is bad do I have them systoms. Most times only the labored or shortness of breath. Exercise is good for asthma, it helps to increase oxgen and strenghten the muscle that pushes the air out of the lungs.
If you want to be sure about your breathing go to a specialist (pulmonary doctor) he can then run test. But as my husband says, if it works and if it ain't broke, don't touch it...LOL
Sincerly,
Buzz
A little over a year ago the stress of graduate school and my anxiety final caught up with me - a heart