From possible to confirmed BAV and all that is to come

Valve Replacement Forums

Help Support Valve Replacement Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Really? You take the statement of a news anchor reading copy written by who knows who as an "insight into the American view..." In case you didn't know, Alabama is part of the world to a Chicagoan :)
Admittedly I was already aware of the Baseball "World Series" - all teams are American, plus one from Canada, and only 37% of Americans have passports.

But don't ask me why Australia and Israel are included in the Eurovision Song Contest!
 
wait, what? We're in it?

FMD ... I never watched that crap even when I lived in Finland (a valid Eurovision participant).
We are not alone in wondering! If you type "why is Aust ..." into Google, the top search result is "Why is Australia in Eurovision"!

The New York Times explains it here.

Israel is the other non-European country in Eurovision, and has been since 1973, as explained in London's Evening Standard newspaper.

There are a few heterosexual men in the audience, but not many. And I don't watch it either.
 
I got hooked on Eurovision two years ago and it is tremendous. The charmingly corrupt and convoluted voting process immediately won my heart.
 
I got hooked on Eurovision two years ago and it is tremendous. The charmingly corrupt and convoluted voting process immediately won my heart.
Go Finland

1700546636967.png
 
Hi ChigagoBAV - I wonder if you are jumping the gun here and panicking a bit which is understandable, but I have to agree with Chuck C, you are probably a long way off from needing surgery.

I was diagnosed with BAV when I was 25 after a GP had heard the murmur and referred me to a cardiologist - I had surgery when I was 60. The trivial/trace aortic regurgitation you have is so common and often noted even in people without BAV, in fact trivial regurgitation is often found in the other valves of the heart and cardiologists don’t worry about it when it is described as trivial or trace. You haven’t got aortic stenosis so that is good. My ascending aorta is 3.3 cm - it varies between tests - no cardiologist has ever remarked on it when it changes.

I wonder if this age of the internet and information can sometimes be a mixed blessing. When I was diagnosed at 25 there was no internet so I completely disregarded the diagnosis of BAV because the cardiologist said there was nothing to do about it. It was only when I was 53 that a gastroenterologist I consulted about an abdominal issue heard the murmur of the valve and said I ought to see a cardiologist again and referred me to one. The cardiologist said that I would need surgery but not at that moment and that I should have annual echos to see the progression of the aortic stenosis.

When will you be seeing your cardiologist ?
 
of course it is ... they play in World Series Baseball don't they?
Partially... Alabama does not have an MLB team while Chicago Cubs won the World Series in 2016.

That's OK, when I was a kid in NYC, I used to think the World Series was required to be played by the NY Yankees plus some other team, possibly randomly chosen. Never thought about the rest of the world. ;)
 
Hi ChigagoBAV - I wonder if you are jumping the gun here and panicking a bit

I have been pretty much panicking every moment of every day about every worrisome thing for the past 40 years, so I'm sure you're right! But I'm glad that I'll at least be an "expert" (as much as a non-physician can be) when the time comes. Being informed helps me cope with the uncertainty.

But you're completely right about the internet being a mixed blessing. I'm so glad you were able to get to age 53 without thinking much about this! And I'm glad no one noticed my BAV until it was found incidentally at 35. I did have a considerable medical workup as a teenager when I had major spinal surgery, but I guess they never heard a murmur. I'm sure I'll get to a place where I can disregard this between echos.

The cardiologist still hasn't called or commented on the tests, so I'm glad I made myself open the results when they came in, because they did help me calm down a bit. I will update the thread if/when I hear from them.
 
Hi

actually I think with proper attention to veracity and detail you can become quite well versed and thus if you understand the materials and meanings rather an expert in any specific field if you wish to (this is what any student who follows a course for a lengthy period does in a PhD or Masters).

But I'm glad that I'll at least be an "expert" (as much as a non-physician can be) when the time comes. Being informed helps me cope with the uncertainty.
In Australia the term for a physician is General Practitioner (and assumes the practice of medicine). I think its fair to say, as a generalisation, that these people are experts in nothing but are "Generalists". Few have any specialised experience; in say titrating a dose of a medication, beyond perhaps starting you low on something (say, hypertension medication) and then suggesting you go higher when your BP is on the rise again.

Almost none of the Journal Articles on the topics of such specialised things as the construction of heart valves, the merits or otherwise of their specific construction materials or indeed anticoagulation. For instance Jeff Harrison who is the author of this piece is a Lecturer in Clinical Pharmacy and I'm pretty sure not a Doctor or Medicine and perhaps doesn't have a PhD (making him entitled in an academic context to use Dr in his name) but has instead a Masters (perhaps a proper one by research not the spoon fed ones of today). If you read that article (which I would encourage) it may bring you to a point where you see why most Doctors are confused about management of warfarin and find it "complicated".

There is a "general public" problem where people see "Doctors" as somehow Gods when in fact much more like a first tier "help desk" they often know barely more about it than you and the rest is all "granted" by you in assumptions (you being the 3rd person infinitive here, more like the use of "han" in Finnish).

Indeed most people (non medical) make huge mistaken assumptions (and like birds, you can identify them easily by their calls) (interrupted by a shrill "you're not a doctor, you're not a doctor, you're not a doctor" of the Channel Billed Idiot) that the authors of papers are Surgeons or Doctors (and they may be but aren't always).

Surgeons and Doctors on the other hand readily turn to specialists (who aren't Doctors or Surgeons) in the specific fields when reading up on the literature or consulting experts, yet the Channel Billed Idiot will instead cry "you're not a doctor, you're not a doctor, you're not a doctor" (Tis the song of the Jubjub! The proof is complete, If only I've stated it thrice.")

So I encourage you to read and to discuss things here because we are availed by a number of experts here (although the Blank Faced Idiot will call "none of us here are doctors" which is patently false because some of us here clearly are which clarifies the level of idiot they are).

Onward and upward

Best Wishes

PS: being worried or anxious is in my view a symptom of inaction and not knowing what to do. Inaction implies knowing what to do but not doing it. This is something you imply you do in your above post and its a life habit I recommend you work strongly at eradicating.

Knowledge is power, power brings confidence (if you don't subvert it with imposter syndrome), knowledge and power brings wisdom (eventually, probably).
1700595696843.png
 
Last edited:
I'm so glad you were able to get to age 53 without thinking much about this! And I'm glad no one noticed my BAV until it was found incidentally at 35.
The seven years from age 53 till 60 I was able do a lot of research, and having annual echos I was able to see the steady rise in the pressure gradients across my aortic valve - I actually plotted a graph - and when it suddenly rose steeply my cardiologist told me I probably had another two years till surgery, so then I was not only working out what kind of valve replacement I wanted (with the help of this wonderful forum) but was also researching surgeons. Things change and advance in the world of valve replacement so what one knows today may have changed tomorrow !
 
Regarding the sound/noise of mechanical valves, despite having tinnitus I have very sensitive hearing (I had to remove a wall clock from my bedroom which was like 20 feet away from my bed, because the "click" it made with the second hand was annoying me).

And when I was in the hospital recovering from my open heart surgery there was a weird light that was part of the electrical socket on the wall across from the foot of my bed which made a strange noise every time it blinked (every couple minutes) which virtually no one could hear but me (but it kept waking me up) - and I had to complain to the nurses about it who thought I was crazy (besides the point) with end result of something like a maintenance person coming in and disabling or changing the outlet (or something I can't remember exactly).

But my mechanical aortic valve? I can't hear it. Not a peep. Nor can anyone else. Don't know what factors are involved to make mine inaudible (without a stethoscope) vs other folks that say they can hear theirs (body mass, bone density, height, curly vs straight vs no hair, being left vs right handed, or anything imaginable under the sun) but point is YMMV either way so I wouldn't put too much stock into that aspect of it. Besides maybe by the time you need one they'll have a guaranteed noiseless model available.

But seriously I wonder if this is any kind of thing that the Drs (or the valve makers) know about, are they aware of some being louder than others, are there installation placement locations to make them less noisy, or what?
 
WOW some really good post and a few I would ignore .
Now I gota tell my story :)

Back in 1970 at ft. Bragg**I was told I had a murmur but NOT to worry about it.

NONE of my GP's said a thing about if about it UNTIL my old GP retired in 2008
and the first thing my new GP did was ask if II know I had a heart murmur. My reply was yes but every one told me DONT worry about it. She sent me to a heart surgeon and he said talk to your wife and get back to me AS SOON you can. WOW that scared the crap out of me. I ask him when was the SOONEST he could do the operation. His answer was next Friday, my reply was great great I will be there. After the operation the surgeon said my valve was opening the size of the head of a pin.

One more thing is get the mechanical valve for one VERY simple reason. My recovery was the most awful thing in my life. I remember siting on the couch in tears from the pain making a promise to myself "I WILL NEVER DO THIS AGAIN" Now a lot of people on this board will tell its not really that bad.

Do you want to risk it ???

So now I also have the AA and they wont operate on because of my age. Reminds me of the movie Dr Strange Love

"How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb"

you will get past the sound but compared to the pain its no contest.

Good Luck :)

** on the east coast :)
 
Last edited:
But it can be a bit reassuring when I get in bed to hear it for about 5 seconds :) When I think about it I can hear it but when not thinking about it never bothers me :)
My experience also. I only hear my mechanical valve between breathes. The flow of air in and out of my lungs seems to be louder than the valve.
 
Hey and @LondonAndy , on the ratios:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0033062020301250Authors:
William K.F. Kong , Jeroen J. Bax, Hector I. Michelena, Victoria Delgado

Abstract​

Bicuspid aortic valve (BAV), the most frequent congenital heart disease, is characterized by an uneven distribution between sexes. BAV is three to four times more frequent in men than in women which could be associated with a reduced dosage of X chromosome genes. In addition, BAV has a multifactorial inheritance, low penetrance and variable phenotypes that may lead to different form of valve degeneration and dysfunction over time as well as different incidence of aortic valve and vascular complications between men and women.​



although I note that most of the authors appeared to be male, this may skew the results
What does reduced dosage of X chromosome genes mean?
 
What does reduced dosage of X chromosome genes mean?
From what you quoted
BAV is three to four times more frequent in men than in women

There is redundancy of genetic information in the chromosomes. Women are XX and men are XY

Y is an X with one leg missing.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top