Search results

"Hook" also made a convincing case -- mostly around http://www.valvereplacement.org/forums/showthread.php?37453-Vitamin-K2-and-Warfarin&p=525065#post525065 -- that supplementing with Vit. K2 rather than (or in addition to) the more easily available Vit. K1 (=~ "Vitamin K in general") may be...

Bocco, your response to my Q (#7 above) raised my HR for a few minutes, in a good way!:D Now I'm waiting for a future photo, with your lovely wife showing her appreciation of your smooth chest. THAT may be a test of some people's Beta Blockers!

I'm with the majority here, too. I was told no dentists for 6 months, and antibiotics thereafter.

Alison, your epilepsy and driving challenges do suck, but I'm guessing that much of the rest of your life is way easier, happier, better, and safer than many billions of our fellow humans on this planet. Heck, I think I know some people who would consider it "really unfair" that you got your...

Bocco, are you somebody who shaves his chest normally, or just for tawdry-shirt pics? My scar has healed better at the top than the bottom, too, but the bottom is much better covered with curly black hair, so it's all pretty hard to notice unless you're really looking.

Another reason not to make a sharp increase is that doing so runs the risk of making you MORE clot-prone instead of less. Warfarin is a vitamin K inhibitor, and vit. K has several different affects, a few of them paradoxically ANTI-clotting. And those paradoxical effects are counteracted by...

For me, the key was the monitoring. I'm glad I did the rehab, though I was extremely active before the AVR, and at or near the top of the class in fitness during the rehab. I was occasionally bored and/or frustrated, and the solution was monitoring. My rehab clinic administered its own cardiac...

BicuspidBuddy, I think you found the long blog-like thread I was referring to. It was all posted post-op, but I think it includes my pre-op experience. (Apologies if not!) Meanwhile, you've got most of the story already. My AV worked incredibly well in volleyball (with a bunch of 20- and...

My first-ever-detected heart murmur led to the discovery of much worse numbers than that, Roxx, and I didn't do anything cautious, except have a bunch of follow-up echos over the years, until the numbers (and two bouts of minor symptoms) suggested it was time to replace my valve. With your...

Great thread, and major thanks to EL & Lyn for all the work! BicuspidBuddy, I think there were quite a few of us here who had AS & ARegurg with BAVs but no symptoms heading into surgery. You can check my long "blog" thread for details (search for "Norm's story"), but I postponed my AVR longer...

Thanks for the LOL(s), Steve! I went without LDA for about a month and didn't notice much difference in the tinnitus, so I've started again, despite the weak evidence. Who knows?

My experience may also not be directly relevant, but my resting HR also stayed elevated for what seemed like a very long time, then eventually recovered to its previous levels, if not a smidge lower. Passage of time, cardiac rehab, return to more and more vigorous exercise -- all happened...

Tigerlily, I may be wrong, but I think most of the evidence for the health benefits of aspirin/ASA are from population studies, that found that people who took aspirin (for whatever reason) had lower rates of MIs and some other bad outcomes. I'm not aware of solid evidence from randomized...

I think the researchers now think that the lion's share of stomach ulcers are caused by heliobacter pylori (bacteria). But ASA does cause gastric bleeding, and does often upset the stomach lining, so it's likely contra-indicated while an ulcer is present, regardless of the cause. (Just my...

1) In simplest terms, any valve has to do two opposite things: It has to open and it has to close. A healthy heart valve does both very close to 100%. Failure to open fully (or to create a normal big-area opening) is stenosis; failure to close fully is regurg. 2) Bob/Tobagotwo interpreted...

We've discussed pre-rinsing (before brushing, flossing, toothpicking, etc.) with a "germ-nasty" mouthwash like Listerine, and many of us thought it sounded like a great idea. I've been doing it for many years, starting before I even knew I had a BAV. I only swim in lake water when I tip a...

cewilk, if you search here for Ross Procedure, you'll find a lot of discussions about the pros and cons. I'm no expert in it, but I've never seen any solid evidence that it (the transplanted pulmonary valve in Aortic position) lasts any longer than a non-human tissue valve. I've seen so many...

I hope cardiac MRIs are more reliable than spinal MRIs.

Did you ever get any explanation for the way-too-fast failure of your pig valve, or did they just wave their hands and say things like "stuff happens", "nobody knows", "luck of the draw", type thing? Did you have an experienced surgeon in a big center with a solid record?

+1 to what EL said. We're not statistics, but the best scientific evidence is based on statistics. Some of the best statistics (best stat. significance AND best results) is in the study entitled "Hancock II Bioprosthesis for Aortic Valve Replacement: The Gold Standard of Bioprosthetic Valves...