First Degree Heart Block

[bbxx]

Well, after someone on the Heart disease brought an article to my attention, I was hoping someone would have some really good understanding of it. I am not sure what to think. Every single cardiologist /EP have told me over the years that 1st degree heart block is nothing. They still say that, but what about this new (finding)?
I am not crazy about reading that it makes you 2xs likely to have afib-especially since they say people with even mild MVP are more likely to get afib. The article said the delay results in delyayed andn ineffective mitral valve closure. (what about those of us who already have that?)--will it worsen it? It says you are 3xs as likey to need a pacemaker. Also some death increase risks. I found another article that says half the people in that study were smokers. Is this true? Does smoking change things? Why are some doctors not embracing this?

[oxer]

My first degree Av block is always borderline, sometimes it says normal on the ecg and sometimes it says first degree Av block with the pr intervals @ 210.. I find this heart block to be tricky because its always changing. But I also have some trace findings on the echo from last year.. Sob, dizzy, nausea are some of my symptoms. Anyone want to comment on heart block or valve regurgitation, anything that my help.

[achillea]

A lot depends on how wide your P-R interval is. Do you know your numbers?

Decades ago, my slightly widened P-R interval was accidentally found during an EKG in a physiology class, and technically, I have first degree HB.  The interval has not changed with time.

Since then, I have also developed PVCs (with all the emotional baggage, including occasional faintness, that these sometimes erratic beats engender), as well as a somewhat floppy aortic valve, but to attribute all this to my long standing but stable heart block would be another example of mistaking correlation for causation.

[oxer]

In 2009 i got dizzy and was taken to the ER, the EKG said first degree Av block. I was also told that it was no big deal and the doctor at the ER said they dont even tell people they have one when they find it.. But i also found out that a prior ER visit in 2007 I was borderline Av block.. Mu question is this, im very symptomatic and am frustrated with my doctors. I also saw in pacemaker.com that there are people who got pacemakers for there 1st degree heart block. Why do doctors keep that from us.

[bbxx]

Thank you :)

[itdood]

All the study has found so far is correlation of 1st DHB in the presence of prolonged PR intervals is predictive of other issues.  Correlation *does not equal* causation.   Also, that correlation is only true part of the time.

The HB is occurring in the AV node.  The AV node does not cause AFIB.   What this suggests to me is that early signs of electrical instability in the AV node is predictive of other areas of the heart possibly experiencing electrical instability down the road.    This is correlation.

[bbxx]

So now my question is this. What else was explained to me incorrectly? Did I actually acquire this from medication or was I born with it? How do they know since there were no records of me ever having an ekg or anything prior to 1994? My brother was born with 3 issues --and ended up with a pacemaker. My records state in 1994 that my heart block was BORDERLINE 1st degree. Now my records state 1st degree. Is this a wording thing? Does this mean it is progressing? Can this be causing any of my other rythm issues? Noone ever mentioned that I needed a follow up for this.

[bbxx]

Another perfect example of doctors not thinking for themeselves. It wasnt just my cardios that told me I would be fine and it would most likely never progress, but on all experts the guy said in 2006 to someone else "it will never cause any trouble" Yet when I asked him about 1st degree heart block he says "the framingham study is a good one" Really? So basically what you are saying is all the years you treated patients with 1st degree heart block you told them it would never cause any problems, just like my doctors did, but that was not based on what you experienced with your patience, it was just what someoen taught you so you lived it. Now that someone is teaching something else you now quote that. Serisiously--I am really upset by this! People wonder why I have little trust in doctors! What they think changes with the wind.