Mitral Valve Prolapse

kls

Does anyone else have this ? Does it bother and annoy you as much as me, especially having to take Antibiotics before a dentist will touch ya.

Robdar

Other than the occasional chest pain, it doesn't bother me. I take my antibiotics and all is well. Funny how teeth cleanings can affect your heart.

When were you diagnosed?

Robyn

I don't have it, but several in-laws have it. Recently, my 40 year-old brother-in-law's got bad enough that he needed to have the valve repaired. That was a difficult surgery and recovery for him. But, of he hadn't done it it was bad enough that he would have died within the year.

Nikita

kls

I was diagnosed about 15-years ago. Took Beta-blockers for years then stopped

Does you heart always flip around and pound hard , then stop for a second.

No Apologies

My wife has it, same symptoms you describe kls. Several years ago she had treatment for it, where they snake a very small wire up through a vein or an artery to the heart, then cauterize the nerve that causes the irregular heart beat. They ended up doing 13 of these pinhead-sized burns. The procedure was successful for the most part.

No Apologies

Robdar

Does you heart always flip around and pound hard , then stop for a second.

No, not always. Rarely, actually. But it does pound hard and then seems like it flutters sometimes. It causes some discomfort occasionally but I only worry about it when I have dental work done or anesthesia.

Are you having a lot of problems with it? I hope that you are taking care of yourself.

(((((kls)))))

Rob

Englishman

I have MVP.

It's my experience that, with a couple of exceptions, you can basically ignore it providing you have regular check-ups.

Here's the exceptions:

MVP means that the blood flowing thorough that valve has a minor backwash into the atrium, that's the chamber at the rear of the valve. This means that the atrium doesn't always clear itself completely with each heart beat which makes it a vulnerable place for bacteria bugs to breed. Hence the need for scrupulously fastidious dental work, which is the main source of these bacteria.

The occasional non-clearance of blood from the atrium can lead to occasional strange sensations in the heart that are very similar to panic feelings because of the quickening and fluttering that can occur.

The backwash of blood back into the atrium via the leaky valve does tend to dilate the atrium. Because the nerves that control the heart beat run around the atrium, any distension can stretch these nerves so that the beat is altered. This was the reason for my own short stay in WSM general hospital. BTW, this effect can be easily controlled by medication.

Finally, because MVP doesnt't affect a persons strength noticeably, there can be a tendency for someone to over-exert themselves. This always applies to moving heavy weights, which does significantly increase the back-wash effect into the atrium and can therefore tip the heart out of rhythm.

So! Live normally, get lots of aerobic excercise, don't take up weight-lifting and DO make sure you dose up on anti-biotics before dental treatment.

Take care,

Mike.

gina

Hi. My neice has it and a former coworker had it. You need to take the antibiotics before dental work (or any surgery probably) in case of infection. Any infection in the body can make its way to the heart and that can be DEADLY. My neice had endocarditis (an infection of the heart), the source of which was never determined, and it almost killed her. PLEASE take care of yourself and take those annoying antibiotics before your dental work. Believe me, you don't want to end up in the hospital hooked up to IVs pumping antibiotics through your veins!

Take care.

Gina

Mitral Valve Prolapse

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