MVP and regurtitation

very confused here. had 2 echos done a week apart. both of them say normal mitral valve morphology . however one test says trace or slight regurtitation

1. can you have regurtitation (slight) without mvp ?
2. is it true that everyone has slight or trace of regurtitation? that is what the cardio said
3. if a person has trace regurtitation without mvp are there any limits? exercize ? or whatever? limits?
4. why would one echo show nothing and the other slight or trace regurtitation? is this a day to day thing?
5. can you get false positive findings for regurtitation?

[often]

Michael....in answer to your questions

1   yes
2  I don't know about everyone, but an awful large portion of the population surely does
3 no limits

I don't know the answers to 4 and 5.  Certainly with #4, you need to take into consideration the tech, the person reading the test, etc.  Did the same doctor read the results, give you answers.

At any rate, I would not be concerned about this.  

[often]

I had moderate regurg when I was first diagnosed with CHF.  It has since gone back to slight.  I had no limitations with the moderate either.

[kitcurious]

There is  no real significance to trace regurgitation from a valve.  It is common and merely an observation. That is what they do with tests, they make observations, it doesn't mean the observation is of any real consequence to your health.
Countless numbers of echos show it and when it is barely there can be a matter of interpretation.
Your tests all indicate your heart is fine and healthy.
I have mild regurge with MVP and Hashimoto's disease and do aerobics and ride my bike about 50 miles a week ( would do more if I could squeeze in the time).
Try to be happy about your good health and take care of your heart. Eat right,  get plenty of exercise and don't ever smoke.
Try to put the energy you focus on looking for a structural disease into preventing one in future.
Have a lovely weekend. If the weather is as beautiful there as it is here hope you go out and enjoy it
:-D

[Michaelccc]

so you are telling me that it really is possible to have "trace" regurtitation in mitral valve and tricuspid valve without these valves having abnormalities such as prolapse? do you know this for sure? reason i'm asking is because one echo shows normal mitral valve and all valves normal does not mention regurtitations. but another echo does not discuss valves and their makeup but it does mention "trace"  of regurg in tricuspid and mitral. very confused here. also the cardio mentioned to me that even if i did have trace regurg most of the population has this. i find this hard to believe. i mean i understand if someone said 5 percent of population has it or whatever but he made it sound as if most people have it. like 60    or   70 percent or whatever.  do you have any statistics or knowledge of this statement. we are of course talking about "traces" of regurg. not full on regurg. even so if someone has traces wouldnt that turn into normal regurg? thats why i find it hard to believe that most people have it because that would mean that most people will develop regular regurtitation with time. Someone please help me understand this so i can stop worriying

[lulama]

For Heaven's sake Michael.................You are torturing yourself over something that is so inconsequential it is beyond ridiculous...........Yes !! it is true that MUCH  of the population has "trace', or "mild".......and they are walking around with no worries......Mine has been there all my life and never got worse and I'm  80 years old............a nephew was born with it and he is 60......I hear of many people who have it...  Doctors all say it is nothing to worry about.......Please, please, relax and get on with your life......What you are doing is choosing to live with terror and fear......

You know Michael,  if , someday, you develop something serious, that will be a bad day........except that it probably can be fixed.........But what you are doing is having a bad day every day of your life.
Think about it........it's your decision

[deedle1976]

I had trace 'regurgitation' written on one echo report and not the other.
Trace regurgitation is not an abnormality.

[Michaelccc]

thanks for the input deedle. i understand when others try to help out but i think making a person feel like they are a nervous wreck is not much help. i don't need to be pointed out the fact that yes i'm very stressed and worried and most possibly worried about something that is totally normal. But what does help me is when a person states a fact. When you say trace regurg is not an abnormality that helps me realize that i do not have to worry about this that anymore and i can move on. thank you again and lulama i understand you trying to help but telling a person to let it go without answers to their concerns is not much help. maybe it is for others but not for me. but thanks anyway

[lulama]

Michael,
I certainly didn't mean to try to make you feel like a nervous wreck, please believe that.......I hate for people to do that.........I'm sure you are a fine young man, and I really think you ought to try to be a doctor, because you are determined to find the cause of everything........Hey, that's a good thing....so, please  re-read the last paragraph of my previous post, and try to do that.

[often]

Michael   I do not know the percentages...but yes...a LARGE part of the population has trace or mild regurg.  And live with it for years without it becoming worse.  Mine actually got better with my meds, so even if it gets worse, they can fix it.  Mine got worse because of my CHF....once we got that under control the regurg did too.

I know you are trying hard to understand it all, but remember this...stress can cause heart problems.  Please try to accept that you are ok and stop worrying.  You will worry yourself right into heart disease....

[often]

I copied this from the Mayo Clinic website.  


"Age. By middle age, many people have some degree of mitral valve regurgitation caused by natural deterioration of the valve. However, mitral valve regurgitation progresses to cause symptoms in only a small percentage of older adults. "

And I know you are not middle aged yet....but it says BY not AT, so don't let that concern you.  Mainly I wanted you to read the last sentence.

Hope this helps

[Momto3]

I've known that I have a leaky mitral valve for over 30 years.  I have an annual echocardiogram to be sure it does not progress to severe.  If, in fact, that happens, I may be considered for surgery.  In the meantime, I have no restrictions and I try not to let it bother me.  

Also, I have had many, many echocardiograms and like sue said, the machines are so sensitive now, they pick up minor variants of "normal."  I've had reports that have said, aortic regurg, tricuspid regurg and others that don't have any inidicaton of either.  My daughter has also had reports with mitral regurg and others in which the resolve seems to have resolved.

Unless the doctor (not a book or an article) indicates you have reason for concern, just accept the fact that you may have a trivial or mild leak.  Remember, it's just a slight deviation from normal - think of it on the bell curve and your a little to the left of "normal" but still fine.

[Michaelccc]

all this stuff is just way to confusing already. i originally went to a Doctor about 5 months ago complaining of flutters that turned out to be pvcs. then 2 echos done holters stress tests. one echo says normal . the other says trace regurtitation. One echo shows no lvh the other shows mild lvh. i don't get it already. one doctor says this then another says something totally different..

[vienna13]

I wish I had the way to tell you: relax and don't worry about it, and you were relax and wont worry about it. It is just the way it is. Think about it so many things in life totally different when in our ordinary common sense they should be the same. Like our blood pressure,  it is always changing, our EF is changing. Our cholesterol, ‘they’  'DECIDED' to  have a line which above is a problem and positive but under is OK. negative.
  Sometimes we must think in simple terms like that.
  Take it that way, imagine that line, visualize it, both of your echoes even if different are under that line ergo they are both OK....both negative.

  

[Michaelccc]

thanks for your help. i'm just trying to understand all of this so that i can calm down and stop freaking out. You know what they say "fear" comes from "not knowing" so i figure if i find out all this stufff about the heart i can finally convince myself that nothing may be wrong. i'm dying to join a jiu jitsu team with some friends. But i'm a little nervous about doing so. They said it is really tough class.   Extremely physically demanding i basically want to make sure i won't croke during class. lol

[often]

Michael...join the class....you won't croak.....and if you did....(you won't you won't) then what better way to go than doing something you love.

Join the class....have a blast.....and six months from now you can be the one giving advice her.  Please....join the class.

[vienna13]

You welcome Michael. I really meant to help you, sometimes we get the certain light, don't even know from where and just a little thing, a word, a sentence, a book can help to deal with what we have and can't change, only deal with it. I also believe all changes are good, even the changes those seems bad at first ,included  our concerns  about our health status are stressful changes seems bad first, because we are worrying so the most important thing is not the change itself but  that how we deal with it,  

I agree with you, knowing is good!  Learning is good!

I don't know what is  "jiu jitsu ":)...but I agree with Often try it out if you like that thing.
You always can leave if you change your mind and don't like it.  We have to give ourselves the chance to try out different things and just get out if we learn that is not for us.....

...again, nothing wrong if you want to learn all from your HEART...You are intelligent, so will put all in the right perspective one day....we all did....all?...well many of us in this board...and the rest is trying ...and that’s good......

[Michaelccc]

thanks for you help . i appreciate yours and everyones input

[TexasCat4U]

Thanks for your comments.  Had my first echocardiogram yesterday (female, age 62) and was told I had a minor leaky valve.  The doctor said it was nothing to worry about.  I asked a couple of questions, and he again said, "It is nothing."  Well, as others have said, it is easy for them to say that because it is not their heart.  It frightened me, of course.  He told me my heart was fine and to keep exercising.  Then, he said he wanted to see me again in six months.  Why so soon?

[Momto3]

Hi and welcome to the forums!

I'm glad to hear you got such a good report : )

I imagine the doctor wants to get a periodic "look" at your valve to be sure it remains stable.  Try not to worry about it (boy, if we could bottle "don't worry" we'd be millionaires...LOL).  But, do try.  Sounds like your doctor is right on top of things.

[Y2468]

I am a 40 year old Mom of 14 month old twins  and an athlete. I have been a competitive  runner since the age of 12 and triathlete since the age of 20. A huge part of my life is training.It elevates stress for me (now I am stressed due to this)
I just recently had an Echo done do to some PVC that i have had since the age of 20. I have had previous Echocardiograms done that has showed nothing.
This most recent Echo says i have a mild thickness of the mitral valve leaflets suggesting Myxomatous degeneration of the mirtal valve.
It also stated that I have mild mitral and tricuspid regurgitation.The last item on the echo mentioned   i had Mildly elevated systolic plumonary artery pressure of 34mmHG,
My doctor  wanted to put me on medication I had mentioned  to him that I perfer not to take medication if their is another option at first he said no   until i told him that i could be pregnant and i was trying to get pregnant again.
He than told me to make sure i drink 8 glasses of water daily  and avoid all stress. He also told me that i can only excersise moderatly and my competition days are over,but it is ok to get pregnant again.
After studying my condition on the computor i found out that it is not necessary for medication with mild mitral regurgitation.
I also wonder if the test can me wrong or it could have been misleading due to my lack of sleep for so many month and my mild dehydration.
I am very confused why my doctor tried to push medication on me. I asked him a second time how serious my condtion was and he said it was very mildly.
At this point my main concern is to stay healthy and be around for my girls for many years to come.