Member Comments are provided by individuals and reflect their personal opinions only. Under NO circumstances should you act on any advice or opinion posted in this forum. ALWAYS check with your personal physician before taking any action regarding your health! MedHelp International and our partners, sponsors and affiliates have no obligation to monitor any comments posted on this site, or the content and/or accuracy of such exchanges. MedHelp International does not endorse the views of any user.
Heart Disease (Expert Forum)
Is this worth pursuing?
This forum is for questions and support regarding heart issues such as: Angina, Angioplasty, Arrhythmia, Bypass Surgery, Cardiomyopathy, Coronary Artery Disease, Defibrillator, Heart Attack, Heart Disease, High Blood Pressure, Mitral Valve Prolapse, Pacemaker, PAD, Stenosis, Stress Tests.
Is this worth pursuing?
by Dodiad71, Dec 18, 2002 12:00AM
Dear Doctors,
I am a 31 year old woman with a pacemaker and poorly controlled atrial arrhythmias. I am currently taking atenolol 25mg day and frankly find it doing a better job with my migraine headaches than with my heart. So I am essentially stuck on it.
I am concerned that in the past my echocardiograms were normal and now I had one just recently that showed that I had mild pulmonary hypertension with right atrial and right ventricular enlargement. I also have a moderate tricuspid valve insufficiency. All of these findings are new. AND with exertion over time I have noticed that I get extremely short of breath. I get depressed knowing that I have so much difficulty just trying to climb a couple stairs.
I do have some sort of connective tissue disorder that has not been clearly diagnosed yet. But my key interest is with my pacemaker. I am on my second. The first one was a dual chamber single lead that turned out to be very useless and causing me more problems. So I was upgraded to a dual-chamber, dual-lead, pacer--the left in the old wire so now I have three wires in my heart and two of them going into my ventricle. I am not sure if the pacemaker could be contributing to my new heart findings.
However, despite all this, my doctor's office (Internist) never informed me of the new echo findings (I requested the echo on my own volition through my internist. I was told in the past that another echo would be unnecessary). I am very disappointed and have begun to wonder if I should just give up pursuing this.
Any feedback would be very appreciated.
I am a 31 year old woman with a pacemaker and poorly controlled atrial arrhythmias. I am currently taking atenolol 25mg day and frankly find it doing a better job with my migraine headaches than with my heart. So I am essentially stuck on it.
I am concerned that in the past my echocardiograms were normal and now I had one just recently that showed that I had mild pulmonary hypertension with right atrial and right ventricular enlargement. I also have a moderate tricuspid valve insufficiency. All of these findings are new. AND with exertion over time I have noticed that I get extremely short of breath. I get depressed knowing that I have so much difficulty just trying to climb a couple stairs.
I do have some sort of connective tissue disorder that has not been clearly diagnosed yet. But my key interest is with my pacemaker. I am on my second. The first one was a dual chamber single lead that turned out to be very useless and causing me more problems. So I was upgraded to a dual-chamber, dual-lead, pacer--the left in the old wire so now I have three wires in my heart and two of them going into my ventricle. I am not sure if the pacemaker could be contributing to my new heart findings.
However, despite all this, my doctor's office (Internist) never informed me of the new echo findings (I requested the echo on my own volition through my internist. I was told in the past that another echo would be unnecessary). I am very disappointed and have begun to wonder if I should just give up pursuing this.
Any feedback would be very appreciated.
Doctor's Answer
by CCF-M.D.-KE, Dec 18, 2002 12:00AM
Dear dodiad,
Sorry to hear about your medical problems. You have a pacemaker along with new findings of mild pulmonary hypertension with some symptoms of shortness of breath. I think your condition needs further evaluation. The connective tissue disorder could be the cause of your pulmonary hypertension or the tricuspid valve itself could be damaged. It is difficult for me to say without more data. I would recommend gathering all of your medical records and getting a second opinion from a cardiologist at a large university based medical center. Hope this helps.
Thanks for your question,
CCF-MD-KE
Sorry to hear about your medical problems. You have a pacemaker along with new findings of mild pulmonary hypertension with some symptoms of shortness of breath. I think your condition needs further evaluation. The connective tissue disorder could be the cause of your pulmonary hypertension or the tricuspid valve itself could be damaged. It is difficult for me to say without more data. I would recommend gathering all of your medical records and getting a second opinion from a cardiologist at a large university based medical center. Hope this helps.
Thanks for your question,
CCF-MD-KE
Member Comments (2)
by Skipper47, Dec 20, 2002 12:00AM
Interesting post for me since I am a 55 yr old woman with a pacemaker having a similar experience. Since implantation I have gone from a normal echo to mild to moderate mitral valve regurgitation, same for tricuspid valve. I also have mild pulmonary hypertention. I am very short of breath. I too have had to read my own records in an attempt to figure out why I am so short of breath. I am also confused since the doc does not inform me of my test results and has no explanation for my shortness of breath. All of this has occurred implantation of a pacemaker 2 years ago after an unexpected result of an ablation procedure.
