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I had endocarditis with rheumatic fever in 1976. Until about 1986, I took prophylactic antibiotics daily because that's how they treated patients who'd had rheumatic fever. Then the thinking changed and I stopped. Since then, I've taken antibiotics every single time I've gone to the dentist...

Now that you mention it, it may have been for 3 months. It was about 10-15 years ago, so I don't remember exactly! I do have auto-immune issues, knew that from Rheumatic Fever, which is what damaged my heart, and I've had others since then. I hope it zaps it this time and you don't get it...

I've never had any issues with it, but never need to take it for long. I think it was 10 days the first time I took it and when I have recurrences, I take it until the symptoms go away, usually no more than 3-5 days.

It may be the same, but with the mitral valve, you'll feel it more on the left side because that's where it's located. When mine was still bad, I couldn't lie on my left side at all because it caused pressure on my already enlarged heart and the valve would struggle to keep up.

Mitral valve?

I agree. When I was about 30, I signed up for a dental HMO through my job. I'd never had any issues so figured "free" dental care would be fine. I went to the dentist for a routine cleaning and he said I had significant periodontal disease and needed extra cleaning, periodontal scaling, and...

In most cases, it wouldn't be insurance money because insurance companies typically pay for two cleanings a year. Extra would be money out of your pocket. I go twice a year. My dentist has never suggested otherwise.

That's kind of interesting. Are you eating a lot more soy/tofu than you did before? People always think about leafy greens and vegetables when they think about Vitamin K, but even though spinach has a lot of Vitamin K, it's measured per 100 g, and that's over 3 cups, so most people don't eat...

I've never noticed that any food affects my INR much and I eat lots of vegetables of all kinds. I don't eat kale because I think it tastes like dried leaves, but I do eat plenty of spinach. The one thing that does affect my INR is alcohol. I typically average fewer than 1 drink a week, but if...

Glad for the good news, though cancer is scary even if it's a "good" cancer. Praying for clear margins and no need for radiation or chemo. The short answer to the low INR is that Lovenox doesn't affect the INR, nor does Heparin or the newer anticoagulants. As far as I know, Warfarin is the...

Eva, how did the biopsy go? Keeping my fingers crossed for a negative result.

Makes me wonder if this was related to my recurrences, but then again, as mentioned earlier, I'm prone to autoimmune issues so hard to say. Colchicine wasn't even on the market yet in 1998, so Vioxx was my miracle drug that got me off Prednisone, even though it was later removed from the market.

I have/had a few different autoimmune issues so am prone to others.

Yes, it's definitely one of those meds, like Warfarin, that you have to weigh the benefits and risks. Other than that 9 month period, I was also on it when I had Rheumatic Fever for about 3-4 months and I've been on the Medrol packs a handful of times for bronchitis. I had a pretty significant...

I've never heard it called PCIS. Right after surgery I was pretty sore, but they told me it was due to the position on the table, which is pretty much bent backwards enough for your shoulder blades to almost touch, but I don't think that would be PCIS. However, I have recurrent acute...

Fortunately it was negative, just like most of them, but it sure caused a lot of stress. Hope yours is negative as well.

The person that did my breast biopsy deferred to my Cardiologist. I stopped Warfarin 5 days out and began Lovenox, just like for other surgeries I've had. There is no way I'd go 7 days without anything.

My Apple watch picks up my heart rate, does a good job at the resting heart rate and the heart rate when I'm exercising. It doesn't pick up PACs as heart beats, which is a good thing because they're not. Those monitors they put on your finger will pick them up so they don't give me an accurate...

I was told a year before they consider you 100% recovered, but that doesn't mean you can't lead a normal life before then. I had pericarditis beginning 2 months post-surgery (more common with mitral than aortic valves) and it lasted a while because every time they'd take me off prednisone, it...

But then you wouldn't have babies! I had two pregnancies before my valve replacement. The first was against my cardiologist's advice and the second I didn't ask because the first had gone so well. Because of the damage from rheumatic fever and my age (36), they told me no CV surgeon would...