aortic stenosis of the bicuspid valve

[tuper]

Hi, I am 20 years old and have aortic stenosis of the bicuspid valve. I have been lifting weights for the past 2 1/2 years. I have always been told not to do anything with the weights that is "too strenuous." But that is a little unclear. So far i have not felt any adverse effects from the weight lifting. I have a checkup once a year and everything seems to be fine. I am considering taking creatine as a supplement with my weight lifting. Does anyone have any thoughts about the possible negative effects of creatine with my given heart condition? Thanks for any help.

-tuper

[mrwjd]

Two bits of good news:  You are keeping your annual checkups, and you HAVE annual checkups.  By the latter, I mean that you are not experiencing much if any stenosis (narrowing) of the valve at this time, or your appointments would be much more often.

The concern always, whether or not the valve is diseased, is that it takes more pressure from the left ventricle to move blood out of the heart, to the rest of the body, than it does with the usual tricuspid valve.  Because of its shape, the bicuspid valve tends to become diseased, stiffening with calcium, etc., so that its opening becomes smaller and smaller.  This shrinking of the opening is called aortic stenosis.  If your activity level demands oxygenated blood faster than it can be pushed through the valve, there may be backpressure on the heart, which can cause a very serious heart attack.

The progression of this disease is pretty silent, that is, it usually is very severe before the person notices symptoms.  Thus the checkups.  At the next one, you might want to pin down your cardiologist as to how wide your valve can open now (3-4 sq cm is normal), and what that says about your risks with sudden exertion.

Best of luck.