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minimal regurgitation
I have mvp and I am 55 years old. My last echocardiogram in Oct. 99 stated moderate prolapse with minimal regurgitation and suggested I have an echo done every year. Is minimal the worse it gets before surgery? And how bad is moderate?
Thank you,
Carol
Thank you,
Carol
On this forum it has been stated often that mvp was over diagnosed (misdiagnosed) back in the 80's because of the equipment and the lack of criteria for diagnosis. They say if you were diagnosed 10 years ago, to get another echo done. Also, someone can be diagnosed today with it and not have it appear on the echo the next time for reasons I can't remember at this point (dehydration may have been one reason?).
In 1988 an echocardiogram diagnosed MVP with mild mitral regurgitation. I had frequent palpitations. Several years later I began a very comprehensive nutrional supplement program. Several months after adding CoEnzymeQ10 to my regimen I noticed a marked decrease in symptoms. A second cariogram in 1997 showed no MVP or regurgitation. I no longer take antibiotics prophylactically. CoQ10 is specific to the heart and much research verifies its benefits. Begin with 1 mg/pound of body weight, and take with fat (e.g, oil or nut butter). CoQ10 is in no way dangerous. I use the Jarrow chewable because I am vegetarian and do not take capsules. But there are many good products out there.
My 9 year old daughter was diagnosed with mitral valve regurgitation (grade 4) and also has an enlarged heart. She is now taking vasotec and digoxin - she will need surgery for valve replacement. I was wondering if anyone who went through this could tell me what I should expect and how long her stay in the hospital will be. Also, the doctor wants to admit her into the hospital 2 weeks before surgery for intravenous medication. Is that a normal procedure and did anyone else do this?
Thank You!
Thank You!
This is a little late, but maybe you still need answers. Antibiotic prophylaxis means preventive antibiotics. The regurgitation scale is 1- trivial, 2- mild, 3- moderate, and 4- severe. I learned this on this site. Hope it helps.
I was having a fairly constant heart fluttering so I went to the doctor. She could hear my heart skipping beats, so she did an EKG. The skipping beats showed up on that as well. Then she ordered a heart monitor for me to wear for 24 hours. I could feel my heart doing the feeling of butterflies trying to get out of your chest pretty much the whole time I was wearing the monitor. When I went back for the report on the monitor the doctor said everything was within normal range, but I did have some premature heart beats....whatever that means. He didn't prescribe any new medications. I have been taking Propranolol for about 6 years because my heart races randomly, but not often. Could the Propranolol be causing this? I don't have any other symptoms except that weird feeling in my chest. It is worse when I sit down or lie down. It stopped for about 2 weeks, but started back up. The doctor said I was under too much stress, but there has to be some medication I can take to stop this feeling or at least minimize it. I would have thought it was indigestion except for the fact when I take my blood pressure you can hear the machine skip beats.
Though I'm not a doctor, I've been learning a LOT about MVP recently...
1) Antibiotic prophyaxis just means "taking a lot at once", pretty much; Amoxicillan is a common one to have you take as a precaution.
2) My cardiologist told me that with minimal regurgitation, the increase in the risk of valve infection from dental work isn't a large one, but worthy of taking the antibiotics; presumably, the bleeding gums from brushing don't cause near enough mixing to be a real issue. The ideal answer, of course, is to treat your mouth correctly so your gums don't bleed regularly.
3) Severity of regurgitation can NOT be determined by a stethoscope; in my case, I have mild mitral prolapse, and mild regurgitation, but my murmur is LOUD, apparantly; my cardiologist said that sometimes that just happens, and the thickness of your chest wall, among other things, can affect how loud the murmur sounds. Obviously, if your murmur sounds louder than it did earlier, the regurgitation may have increased in severity, and it's time to get an echo, but if you have known regurgitation, you should be on a regular schedule of echos anyway (my cardiologist told me to come back in 5 years, less if I develop symptoms). And think about it; how is your doctor going to know whether your murmur is louder now than it was 6 months or a year ago? Do you really expect him to be able to remember exactly how loud it was way back then?
4) My cardiologist told me that common symptoms of increase in mitral regurgitation include shortness of breath and lowered tolerance for exercise.
5) rating of reguritation: it's REALLY hard to actually tell exactly how bad mitral reguritation is, without being pretty invasive; read up in some journals, and you'll see that these diagnoses are still problematic, so they need BROAD ranges; think of 1,2,3,4 as quartiles; mild is the first quartile, moderate is the middle half, and severe is the top quartile; they just can't quantify it much better than that; there's no sure-fire non-invasive way to do it, yet. Echo comes the closest, apparantly the TEE (trans-eusophagal(sp?) echo) can be a little better than regular echo, and a stress echo can help, too, and I've heard about a 3-D echo, too, but don't know anything about it, really.
once again, these are all just my understanding based on what I've learned, being a very motivated patient; I'm NOT a doctor.
-Sandy
1) Antibiotic prophyaxis just means "taking a lot at once", pretty much; Amoxicillan is a common one to have you take as a precaution.
2) My cardiologist told me that with minimal regurgitation, the increase in the risk of valve infection from dental work isn't a large one, but worthy of taking the antibiotics; presumably, the bleeding gums from brushing don't cause near enough mixing to be a real issue. The ideal answer, of course, is to treat your mouth correctly so your gums don't bleed regularly.
3) Severity of regurgitation can NOT be determined by a stethoscope; in my case, I have mild mitral prolapse, and mild regurgitation, but my murmur is LOUD, apparantly; my cardiologist said that sometimes that just happens, and the thickness of your chest wall, among other things, can affect how loud the murmur sounds. Obviously, if your murmur sounds louder than it did earlier, the regurgitation may have increased in severity, and it's time to get an echo, but if you have known regurgitation, you should be on a regular schedule of echos anyway (my cardiologist told me to come back in 5 years, less if I develop symptoms). And think about it; how is your doctor going to know whether your murmur is louder now than it was 6 months or a year ago? Do you really expect him to be able to remember exactly how loud it was way back then?
4) My cardiologist told me that common symptoms of increase in mitral regurgitation include shortness of breath and lowered tolerance for exercise.
5) rating of reguritation: it's REALLY hard to actually tell exactly how bad mitral reguritation is, without being pretty invasive; read up in some journals, and you'll see that these diagnoses are still problematic, so they need BROAD ranges; think of 1,2,3,4 as quartiles; mild is the first quartile, moderate is the middle half, and severe is the top quartile; they just can't quantify it much better than that; there's no sure-fire non-invasive way to do it, yet. Echo comes the closest, apparantly the TEE (trans-eusophagal(sp?) echo) can be a little better than regular echo, and a stress echo can help, too, and I've heard about a 3-D echo, too, but don't know anything about it, really.
once again, these are all just my understanding based on what I've learned, being a very motivated patient; I'm NOT a doctor.
-Sandy
Help !
Can anyone provide the range for valve regurgitation
in terms of :minimal,moderate,severe.Why is minimal
considered as equal to 1 and why moderate according to MD CRC should be 2-3 ? ?
I understand it is supposed to be measuerd as from 0-4 scale.
How about below one say 0.5 or 0.6 or above one such as 1.5 or 1.8?? If I understand the term "range" it should range from one value to another so that : minimal might be from 0 to 1.33
moderate 1.33 to 2.66 ,severe 2.66 to 3.99 =~4 so the actual
"step" is 1.33 however I am not a phisician and this is only my own interpretation.
I am looking for any information about this that someone might provide.
Can anyone provide the range for valve regurgitation
in terms of :minimal,moderate,severe.Why is minimal
considered as equal to 1 and why moderate according to MD CRC should be 2-3 ? ?
I understand it is supposed to be measuerd as from 0-4 scale.
How about below one say 0.5 or 0.6 or above one such as 1.5 or 1.8?? If I understand the term "range" it should range from one value to another so that : minimal might be from 0 to 1.33
moderate 1.33 to 2.66 ,severe 2.66 to 3.99 =~4 so the actual
"step" is 1.33 however I am not a phisician and this is only my own interpretation.
I am looking for any information about this that someone might provide.
I have a serious question for the docs regarding MVP and having to take an antibiotic before any dental procedures. From my understanding, the reason we take antibiotics before any dental procedure, is to prevent any bacteria that has been dislodged from the teeth from adhering to our heart valves. The key point is that any time there is blood and bacteria mixing, there is that potential. Two questions for the docs: (1) Sometimes when people brush or floss their teeth some bleeding may occur, especially if a person has gingivitis or periodontitis. Isn't this kind of bleeding also a concern. (2) Does a person with bleeding hemorrhoids have to be concerned about the blood/bacteria combination?
Thanks for your resonse.
Thanks for your resonse.
Three years ago I took fenphen diet pills. I ended up in an
ER being cardioverted for a fib. Is there any evidence that fenphen causes arrhythmias?
ER being cardioverted for a fib. Is there any evidence that fenphen causes arrhythmias?
my 7 week old grand daughter has asd 6mm is
this going to close on its own, they seen it 4
weeks, ago can it close after months or only
2-3 weeks. from a new worried grandma. any
answers would be appreciated.
this going to close on its own, they seen it 4
weeks, ago can it close after months or only
2-3 weeks. from a new worried grandma. any
answers would be appreciated.
Hi Elizabeth,
I just took my first round of amoxicillin before getting my teeth cleaned. I had MVP repair six months ago and I have to take the antibiotics before any invasive procedure including cleaning teeth. I took 4 of them an hour before the procedure. Hope this helps.
I just took my first round of amoxicillin before getting my teeth cleaned. I had MVP repair six months ago and I have to take the antibiotics before any invasive procedure including cleaning teeth. I took 4 of them an hour before the procedure. Hope this helps.
I too have MVP with moderate regurg. Can Cardiologists tell by listening to the heart how severe this is or if it is worsening or is an echo the best and only way to follow this? Would yearly followup be within the limits with Cardio? What symptoms would I watch out for if regurg were to progress? Thank you
I was just wondering, I have MVP and my cardio. prescribed Amoxicillin before dental procedures. He said that this was for precaution only. Is amoxicillin the same as prophylaxis- I have only heard of prophylaxis because of this forum, but I have never seen anyone mention they take amoxicillin.
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
No, minimal is a long way from surgery. Mitral regurgitation is graded on a scale of 0 to 4 and minimal is 1. Most doctors wait until '4' until proceeding to surgery. MOderate is 2-3.
I had moderate to severe regurg for several years with no enlargement of the heart or reduction in my ejection fraction. Only when it progressed to severe and my heart showed some chamber enlargement did my doctors feel surgery was needed. Annual monitoring seems prudent so that any progression of the regurgitation can be documented, but I would personally doubt that you'll be in surgery any time soon. My opinion is only based on my personal experience...I am not a medical professional.
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