mitral valve

[tricia214]

Hi

I am sorry but I believe I posted my question originally on the wrong forum.  I posted it on the heart rhythm forum and only afterwards realized that this forum deal with mitral valve.  So I am now posting my questions below.

Just today I was diagnosed via echocardiogram with "mild mitral valve prolapse with minimal mitral regurgitation" .  I have been looking on the internet for what this means and the information just has me scared because of the medical terms being used.  Can anyone one PLEASE shed some light into this ? Is this a lifethreatening disorder?  Will it over time progress into something worst?  My doctor told me it was nothing to worry about and it should not get worst and I should use antioobiotics with dental work.  He did not say if it should be montiored.  I have been having symptoms lately (the reason I did the echo)  I have fatigue, anxiety, shortness of breath, palpitations, chest pain. My ECG came back with no signs of abnormality, I did a cardic enzymes and hs-C-reactive protein blood test and it also was good.  

Again, is this diagnosis something I should worry about?  will it or can it develop into anything serious later in life? should it be monitored more and should I be on any type of medication?

Thanks much

[tricia214]

hi

Thank you sooo very much for you comments and links to other sites.  I did go to the cardiologist yesterday and he said it was nothing to worry about,  he recommended that I repeat the echocardiogram in about one year and if nothing has changed then I do another echo ever so often, just to monitor the situation.  He has also requested that I do a stress test. Other than that he said I appear to be fine, as I also did a thyroid, lipid profile, cbc and the other heart bloods and they all came back well.  He did not mention anything about medications.

I was sooo scared when I received this diagnosis (and still am a bit) I cried for most of that night.  I even went so far as to repeat the echo, the results were the same, except they reported that the regurgitation was "trival".  The cardiologist also sound me and he said that he could not even hear anything abnormal, he also said he really does not believe that it will progress unless I suffer any kind of chest trauma.

My biggest fear is that the condition will get worst.  Even with reasurrance I am still fearful.  

Btw I am a 30 year old female and I also wonder will this affect me when I decide to have children some day?

Thanks so much again, I think I really need a place to speak about this.  My family just keeps telling me that I need to relax and don't worry, but that is easier said than done.  I know I will be calmer but I only receievd this news 2 days ago, so being that new I still need some adjustment.  

tricia

[Heiferly]

Ugh, I left out the URL to the Cleveland Clinic article PDF.  Clearly, I'm still working my way back up to "normal."  Bear with me here.  Here's the article:

http://ccjm.org/content/69/11/889.full.pdf

Sorry about that.  Long day.  D'oh.

[tonyad]

Welcome to the forum...
     Yes, you can post here on this forum as well.
As for your question.....No, MVP is usually not a threat to your life even w/ the minimal regurgitation.  
     Many of us here on this forum have MVP w/ regurgitation along with Autonomic Dysfunction which someone had already mentioned.  Are you on any meds?
Sometimes when your MVP is a bit more sensitive than other times...you may want to watch your caffeine (sp) intake as it is a stimulant and can aggravate or intensify your symptoms.    
      Also, as someone had mentioned, you can infact have MVP along w/ another dx such as POTS, NCS, IST, OI.   If you continue to be concerned about your sx, then I would request  to be refered to an EP doctor who then can do some additional testing for you such as the Tilt Table Test.
     Hope you get to feeling better. Stay in with this forum as you can and will learn a lot
about Autonomic Dysfunction and also a good place to come and vent, ask questions,
or just lurk.
     Have a good night. Take Care,
~Tonya

[Heiferly]

Hi, you are welcome to post in multiple forums.  Here we deal with mitral valve prolapse dysautonomia (also known as mitral valve prolapse syndrome), which is distinct from mitral valve prolapse itself.  Judging by your symptoms of fatigue, anxiety, shortness of breath, palpitations, and chest pain, I would say that it is reasonable for you to want to investigate whether you might have MVPD/S.  I believe this article (it is in a pdf format; contact me if you need help accessing pdfs) should answer nearly all of the questions you asked; it is from a very reputable source.  The Cleveland Clinic, in addition to being one of the nation's top hospitals, also houses one of the few dysautonomia clinics in the US.  

One note:  this was published in 2002 and so far as I know the American Heart Association no longer recommends prophylactic antibiotics for dentistry for the majority of MVP cases, only for exceptional cases (presumably particularly high-risk cases).  See here:

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4717
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/mitral-valve-prolapse/DS00504/DSECTION=complications

Here's an overview of MVP (not dysautonomia):
http://www.medhelp.org/medical-information/show/3456/Mitral-valve-prolapse

If you would like to seek out a dysautonomia specialist:
http://www.medhelp.org/health_pages/Neurological-Disorders/Dysautonomia-Specialists/show/717?cid=196

You can probably get your best dysautonomia-related answers here and general mitral valve prolapse answers in the heart disease community and heart disease expert forum, but feel free to ask away with whatever questions you have and we'll do our best to answer/find you the answer/redirect you to someone who can get you the answer.  

[tricia214]

Isn't this autonomic disorders (dysfunction) forum also? I looked at the title of the forum.

[somemonkey]

This is for autonomic disorders. Some people with mvp have both.