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Avatar universal

what is a "thick mitral valve"?

due to all of my symptoms (shortness of breath, chest pain, dizziness, etc) my doc finally sent me for an echo.  today he called and said it just showed a thick mitral valve but i don't have to worry about dropping dead over it or anything..... pretty much telling me i will just have to live like a 90 year old at 35 unless the stress test comes back bad as he is not convinced it is the cause of the shooting chest pains.

what does all of this mean and will it ever get worse? he is a family doctor not a cardiologist.  should i get a second opinion?

thanks!
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Avatar universal
26 Yr Old male...Suffering from Chest Pain, Chest Discomfort and like insects moving beneath the chest and water is moving under the chest , diziness/light headedness..My BP stays almost 140/90.. Went to ECG, 2D Echo, and TMT ... All were normal except THICK MITRAL VALVE with MILD MR ..MVP was normal... Doc sent me back stating nothing is reqd to be done..
Could anyone contribute to this ???
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i'm not sure what a statin is but he didn't put me on any meds..... basically just told me that i was going to have to deal w/ it
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A nuclear stress test is only about 85% accurate for females.......  just something to keep in mind.  

A regular stress test is even less.
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helo , my wife ahd a bad mitro valve, and it was undected  till she fianly saw  acompent cardologist, she ddint have same valve problem as  you, but she had server shortness of breath  cs passing out at tiems, so plese see a good cardologist. You should probley  have a  EET test that wil realy tell al ot about your mitro valve, i am not a DR, but  teh stres test can miss a lot about yuor mitro valve. it ddi on my wifes.
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Avatar universal
I would suggest goign to a Cardio.  Docs are trying to keep up with all they can but it is impossible to be an expert on everything and it is not safe for them to try all the time.

I am not a doc, from what I know, it would matter the degree of the thickening fo the valve.  a valve will get thicker if there is something wrong with it (sometimes called a diseased valve or valve fibrosis-loosly).  The degree of thickening matters.  This is somewhat normal in an aged person, from what little I know. Did the doc put you on any statins? not that he should have, just wondering.

Here is a link that might help (warning medical review.... some parts might be hard to follow but its recent).  
http://krex.k-state.edu/dspace/bitstream/2097/319/1/AllisonHeaney2007.pdf

No matter what you find out, no matter how much you just 'love' your doc..... ask for a referal.  DO docs are usually the best at keeping their patients informed, so I would seek a DO cardio doc but no matter what ..... good luck!!!!

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