Ms

My ECHO conclusion shows mild aortic valve leaflet sclerosis s/o stenosis, mild mitral and tricuspid valve regurg.  Then, doppler evidence of diastolic dysfunction.  I have had s.o.b. with chest pain on slight exertion for about 6 years but the drs. say I'm ok.  I also wore a monitor for 30 days and have episodes of ventricular arrythmia.  I take 20 mg. of inderal a day.  Is there any other treatment you might suggest for my problems??

middy

[Cleveland Clinic]

You need to have a stress test if you already haven't had one.  Preferably an exercise stress test to see whether the symptoms could be reproduced.  The fact that you have episodes of ventricular arrhythmia is concerning, however, with a normal heart function, anything other than a beta blocker is probably not indicated and your prognosis is good as long as you have no symptoms from the arrhythmia, meaning that you have not passed out in the past or have palpitations or lightheadedness.  Again, the stress test will also help out in terms of seeing whether the arrhythmia is related to exertion and potentially to low blood and oxygen supply to the heart.  Furthermore, diastolic dysfunction is typically related to some type of underlying disease.  Your aortic sclerosis is not the cause of it, neither are the other two valves.  Typically, long standing high blood pressure, coronary artery disease or a condition known as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (typically diagnosed with an echocardiogram) are the more common causes of diastolic dysfunction.  There are others as well, but less common.  They all cause shortness of breath with exertion at the moderate to advanced stage.  Treatment for these conditions is varies.  They must first be sorted out, however, before any therapy could be considered.  Also, typical deconditioning related to obesity or lack of exercise may cause these symptoms as well.  You doctors should really pay attention to your symptoms, as it sound like your quality of life is affected by them, and search until they can at least give you an explanation for why this is happening to you.  Treatment would then depend on what they find as the cause of your problem.