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Avatar universal

Should I fear endocarditis? heart defects, prophylaxis etc...

I'd like to start out by saying that I have generalized anxiety disorder and take citalopram 20mg every day; it helps most of the time but I'll admit that sometimes I still panic, like these days.

I have a ventricular septal defect that was repaired via open heart surgery at 2 and a half years old; there was some leaking left after it and I had a cardiologist up until I was 16, I'm 24 now. I also have aortic stenosis, possibly an atrial septal defect as well (I thought my medical records said that but I've heard nothing from my current GP) and also myocardial or mitral regurgitation in the perimembranus? (not quite sure exactly, but apparently it's trivial) this is from when I had a catheter at 15.

Since then; I'll admit I havent been taking care of my health; I used to weigh 310-320 pounds on my 5 foot 11 frame; I am now down to 270 with no intentions on stopping; I also have some gastric problems as a result of my foolishness like gerd and now have no cardiologist to speak of.

I've done 2 ecg's one in stress and they came back "fine", my gp (who is a specialist nurse really) said she doesn't hear a heart murmur.

Now I haven't been to the dentist out of fear since I was 6, my teeth now have a myriad of issues with them and frankly I'm scared. I have a hole in one of my teeth that will probably need a root canal or extraction and plenty others with cavities that might need fillings. I also have been prescribed 2G of amoxil to take 1 hour before the dentist.

with all of this said, should I fear endocarditis in this case? don't antibiotics lose effectiveness in obese people such as myself? should I be fearful of perhaps losing my life going to get all of this stuff done? I truly need re-assurance; one dental office didn't want to deal with me so their secretary told me to go to a hospital. Nice of them.
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Avatar universal
Best to go get the dental work done asap, before it messes up your head. Try not to obsess with worry
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Avatar universal
yes while waiting, i called a doctor and pharmacist about it; they said amoxil does not vary when it comes to weight and that there is no resistance to it meaning my chances of contracting endocarditis are practically nonexistent on them, it's mostly fear; I mean I just bled from my mouth earlier cause I cut myself with dental floss and was panicking about bacteria even though i bled many times before.

I'll get myself to the dentist in a hurry and remedy my health situation in order to live a normal life.
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Avatar universal
The vast majority people with structural heart defects will never get endocarditis, no matter what they do or don't do, so NO, you should not live in fear of getting endocarditis.  Neglecting your dental health does not help matters, but all you can do now is to just suck it up, and do what needs to be done.  If you think perhaps you should have a bigger dose of amoxil because of your body weight, then by all means, call the office of the doctor who prescribed it and double-check, but if the doctor doesn't see fit to adjust the dose, I would not worry about it.  Your chances of getting bacterial endocarditis are low.  What is important is that you not elevate your risk by walking around for years with a mouth full of infection.  Get your dental care up to date, and you will be back to baseline risk, which is LOW.  There are no nonexistent risks (anything can happen to anybody), but the risk of bacterial endocarditis is very low, even for you.
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