asd

When I was pregnant with my last child, whenever I would stand up my heart rate would jump up to 160 and I felt short of breath and like I was going to pass out. I had trouble just walking from one room to another. If I did nothing but lay around the house all day, I would have a couple of symptom-free days. I told my OB about it, and she referred me to a cardiologist.

Before the guy even examined me, he told me that there was nothing wrong with me, but he would order an echo and holter monitor just to make sure.  After I had the echo, he told me that I have a small atrial septal defect and he would see me again after I had the baby. Well, I went back when I was 3 months postpartum and had another echo. He said they didn't see the hole and that my symptoms couldn't be from my heart and to just deal with it. Both of the echos were done when I was symptom free.

It's been 2 years since the last time I have seen a doctor. I'm doing much better than I was before, but I definitely don't have the energy that I use to have. I only have trouble breathing if I try to run or do any kind of exercise. Also whenever I get up real fast and sit back down again, I get this really strong pressure in my chest. I'm not depressed or stressed out, so I don't think it's mental.

I went and got my medical records a couple days ago. The results from the first echo I had done when I was pregnant showed that I have a small asd with a qp/qs ratio of 1.26 with left to right shunt. The second one said that I have interatrial septal thinning with no color flow across the intraatrial septum seen. The ECG showed mild sinus tachycardia. I also have a grade 2/6 systolic murmur. All blood tests done were normal.

Is it possible that the ASD was causing my symptoms or something else? How accurate is a regular echo at determining the size of an ASD? Could it really be bigger and it just appeared to be small at the time I wasn't having symptoms?

Thanks.  

[Jose Luis Ameriso, MD]

Well, if you really you have an ASD with qp/qs 1.26 ratio, probably this it´s the cause of your symptons, but  a REGULAR ECHO, is not 100% accurate to determine an ASD or the size.Only and TRANSESOFAGEAL ECHO, can give you the accuracy,so I recomend you if you can do this study in order to discard if you really have an ASD.
Best regards..

                  Dr. Ameriso..