I was diagnosed by my cardiologist to have a mitral valve prolapse after undergoing an echocardiogram that she herself made on me last 1995. According to her my posterior valves are totally prolapsed while my anterior valves are partially prolapsed. She put me on propanolol. But I was'nt really taking it religiously (honestly i hate taking pills) and only takes it whenever I would have chest pains, palpitations, shortness of breath, etc.I usually go back to her for check up everytime I am not feeling really well.Recently, I was awakened in the middle of the night by a severe chest pain that rendered me very weak and when I had my medical check up the cardiologist said I am having an arythmmia and that I have a lot of PVCs. She required 2D-Echo but was surprised to know that the exam showed a normal heart condition with normal valves - she just can't believe it because the ECG reveals a different picture. Is there a possibility that a 2-D Echo gives a wrong result? Right now, I continue to have some sudden sharp chest pains, my ankles and feet gets swollen especially in the afternoon after office work and I do have difficulty in breathing especially when I am full or hungry. I also have cough though not like the common cough. I am still on Inderal 10 (propanolol) as prescribed by my cardiologist. I have difficulty in sleeping and have migraines. What is wrong with me?
omg. those are the actual things that are happening to me right now. i sometimes have shortness of breath which really scares me a lot.
i had a 2D Echo last saturday and the doctor will explain to me the results on wednesday.
i'm actually not feeling fine this very moment. i sometimes feel totally fine then all of a sudden, i feel shortness of breath and my chest tightens. it scares the hell out me.
i already went to a pulomonologist and he told me my lungs were fine. he advised me to see an endocrinologist because he said that hyperthyroidism has these symptoms also (fast breathing, fast heartbeats...).
what scares me now is what if my cardiologist doesnt see anything wrong in my echo result.. what could be wrong?!
It's not bad to be on a beta blocker at all. They are often given to people to help calm their fear about their palpitations. It makes the heartbeat slower and less noticeable so when they have a PVC they may be less likely to feel it. If you feel better on it stay on it. Performers pop them for stage fright too ( I am not endorsing this idea LOL).
There are certain complications that can come from beta use, but that is something I am sure your doctor discussed with you. If you have any side-effects that you cannot tolerate you can go back to the doctor and get on a different dosage or different pill.
I don't know what to say about your diagnosis. I am not a doctor. You may want to address a note to someone like Collegegirl who may be able to answer more about what the diagnostic criteria are.
Personally, I have never heard of being put on SBE prophylaxis without some evidence of leaflet thickening or regurgitation. It may be done all the time, but I've just never heard of it.
There's nothing wrong with requesting an event monitor either. The thing is, I'm not sure if being on the beta would effect the result of an event monitor. I know betas slow hearbeat to decrease the sensation of ectopics, but usually do not eliminate them. Still, for some people they say the drug does eliminate the ectopics for them.
You should discuss all of this with your doctor.
I'd go for the event monitor and, as suggested by the previous poster, if your thyroid has not been tested I'd go for that test as well because this can make people have a high heart rate.
Take the actions you think you need to in order to get the answers you seek. I know this is easy for me to say but I'll say it anyway...try not to worry too much.
Hi you!
First don't be scared I haven't been able to breathe normal for about 3 1/2 days now, because of stress (have a really hard time catching my breath, and getting enough oxygen, which of course makes me a little dizzy...). I had suffered from anxiety/panic attacks in the past, but haven't had them after curing myself almost a year ago. ( I did it without drugs! XANAX almost killed me!!!) In teh past the breathing thing would have caused other symptoms, but because I know this is how my body responds to stress, I just have to wait it out, but I at least have teh knowledge of being tested for everything (including ALL cardio tests) and finding out I am deficient in two hugley important areas. I am Iodine deficient and Magnesium deficient. Because these things are cured with supplements it will take a while to get balanced and cure myself entirely, but I at least know the things my body needs and I can eat those things, and take vitamins easily!!!! Oh, and pay attention to signs early and how all things are connected, because I found a multi nodular thyroid gland early ( just have a goiter, I am not hypo or hyper!), I can cure it so I don't have to take thyroid med's for teh rest of my life (hello I am way to young for that) and I am looking forward to no more heart palp's ever, now that I have been made aware of getting magnesium!!!
Anyhow check out these things:
http://heartdisease.about.com/od/lesscommonheartproblems/a/thyroidheart.htm
http://www.life-enthusiast.com/index/Articles/Dean/Miracle_of_Magnesium
take care & I hope this helps!!!
abl
When I had my latest Echo, the tech said "here, look, these are your mitral valves, they are perfect. No mitral valve prolapse or anything". A few days later, my Cardiologist was telling me that although the Echo didn't show it (nor did any of my previous Echos), he said I have the symptoms of MVP and that's what he believes I have.
The Toprol does help my heart rate and my palpitations. Is it bad to be on a beta blocker and do you have to be weaned off?
I've been reading about Dysautonomia, after a post I read on here, and although I'm not 100% clear on what exactly it is, I have a ton of those symptoms. I just don't know who would diagnose that, my doctor or my Cardiologist.
My doctor said that sometimes Echos don't show everything and he believes that I have MVP that either hasn't shown up on the Echo or won't show up. He said my symptoms match those with MVP. The only thing he said I had to do was premedicate before dental work and take the Toprol.
I stopped taking the Toprol for a week (I honestly hate taking pills), but started again yesterday because of the episode that I had.
It's the scariest thing when everything is totally fine one minute, I'm laughing and having a good time and then the horribe shortness of breath, my heart is racing, and I just feel like I'm going to pass out.
I would LOVE for this to be anxiety, but I don't see how that can be because I'm not depressed and I'm not anxious about anything. It seems like this happens when I'm having fun.
I didn't know what to make of the hair spray thing. When I came home and had to spray my hair before I went out, I used a different brand than my stylist, and I was fine.
I'd be interested to know if there's some aggravating ingredient in there.
Mitral Valve Prolapse is a common thing and so are anxiety attacks. Some people happen to have both.
I have MVP and I know several people who have MVP (my son's valve is sclerotic) and none of us is particularly prone to these type of complaints. We may get palps but we don't panic from them, occasional chest pain but it's not a big deal.
Robin: Did your doctor tell you why he thinks you have MVP after three clear echocardiograms? Did he hear a click/murmur?
Mitral Valve Prolapse Syndrome is basically about panic attacks being caused by MVP. Do I personally believe in this? No. The evidence is sketchy at best and has remained unproven for many many years.
The thing is that anxiety that occurs at proper times (like seeing your loved one chased by a pitt bull dog) is not a problem and is not notable. It's anxiety that occurs at improper times that is a problem. That's the whole point.
Antibiotics are recommended to people with noticable regurgitation or thickened leaflets.
If you had significant regurge that made you prone to Afib that would be a medical reason for beta blockers,
though they don't always work.
Bottom line: If you are satisfied with the diagnosis then that's that. If you are uncomfortable with it then you can always request an event monitor or speak to another doctor about it.
I'm sure you'll be fine.
There is a condition called mitral valve prolapse syndrome, where the MVP seems to amplify any dysautonomia, causing more PVCs, chest pain, etc.
"It is not at all clear that patients with MVP have an increased propensity to the symptoms associated with the dysautonomias (palpitations, anxiety, fatigue, aches and pains.) But in their desperation to make a diagnosis in patients complaining of such symptoms, and thus by ordering every test known to man, doctors have found (naturally) that a proportion of these difficult patients have MVP. Doctors have thus coined the phrase
MVP generally does not cause symptoms. It is a benign condition. You may have some flutters or atypical chest pain from time to time, but the main thing they look for is whether or not you have a deformity and whether or not the valve is regurgitating blood to an extent that jeopardizes your health. Were this the case the echos should have shown it...they show even trivial amounts of regurgitation.
If you have shortness of breath you may want to be checked for a lung problem, possibly asthma, if you have asthma you should be very careful with beta blockers.
There is an event monitor if you are still searching for a rhythm, but if that comes back normal you may want to look into methods of reducing stress/ anxiety because a great many of the symptoms you describe may be due to anxiety attacks. Doctors often prescribe beta blockers to anxious patients, not only because it lessens the sensation of the heartbeat but also because they have a sedative effect. Performers will often "pop" beta blockers before going onstage to blunt their nervousness and stage fright.
Good luck with your search for answers.
There is also a 7 day holter and like mariop mentioned just with your dr
good luck
There's a 30 day event monitor. Whenever a heart event occurs you press a button on the monitor and it records live the status of your heart. It records for several minutes. Then you transmit it by phone to the Doctor's office for review.
There's also a treadmill test to see how much stress your heart can take. This is usually one of the first tests that the doctor gives.
I had bad luck with holter monitors too. I had to wear a monitor several weeks before they were able to catch my arrhythmia. Once they caught it they then did an EP Study where they go inside your heart with wires to check the electrical properties of your heart.
I also wanted to add that oddly enough, the hair spray that my stylist was using seemed like it was aggravating my symptoms. I have no idea if certain chemicals in the sprays can make you feel like that, but I just noticed that I had to cover my mouth and nose when she was spraying my hair, or else it made my shortness of breath and feelings of nearly passing out worse.