Tirone,
I went to my family doctor because I had a chest pain. He said it was most likely from lifting too much weight when working out and it would go away in 3-4 days (which it did). I started working out last summer and have never felt anything until this month when I increased the weights/intensity. Then he started talking about how it would be a problem if I felt out of breath doing it and I mentioned one time I ran up my stairs and felt out of breath so he made me an apt for an echo. Infact the first thing he did was listen to my heart and lungs when I went in and he said everything sounds good.
Now i've read about how the symptoms tend to be general fatigue and out of breath on exertion so i've tested running up my stairs again and haven't felt out of breath.
Here's something I've wondered though; how can some people be at the 'severe' range and not have any symptoms and others be in the early stages WITH symptoms?
Hi JoeP,
we are all different, with different fitness levels, different ages and different pathophysiology, hence why we can all have slightly different symptoms. A young, otherwise helthy person has an amazing capacity to "compensate" for conditions that would knock an elderly person flat on their back. Also, our bodies continue to "adapt" to the leaky valve, but this can only take place for so long until symptoms become worrse or manifest as other issues, fatigue, shortness of breah etc.
So, let me explain a little further. If you are born with a bicuspid aortic valve, many of us will have no symptoms at all because our hearts and bodies are small, we have really good lungs and blood vessels, and the symptoms just don't occur unless itis very severe (usually). As we age, our heart changes shape, our blood prerssure increases, our bodies become bigger, we lift bigger weights and walk and run longer distances. If our heart valve is leaking, our heart may change shape to "compensate", ie the left ventrile becomes bigger to pump more blood, (left ventricular hypertrophy), but eventually these adaptations get to a limit beyond which you then start to become breathlessunderexertion initially, and if it worsens you become breathless at rest, cyanotic (blue) etc...The good news is that often this progression happens gradually, and if the valve condition is known it nca be monitored over tme. My valve was monitored over 30 years, and my left ventrile just started to get bigger in the last few years and then I started to become breathless when walking up very steep hils, and thats when they did the valve replacement. More good news is that my heart has now returned to its normal size, the symptoms of breathlessness are gone, and my heart ejection fraction and blood pressure are normnal.
It is so good you went to the doctor for the chest pains. Its good that you still have exercise tolerance, but if you were 30 or 40 years older that may not be the case. It sounds like you might be quite fit, and that will leave you in a good position.
Think about this. Had you not gone to the doctor, had you not been lifting weights, you may have never known about the valve. Now that you know you can have it monitored, (and in fact they may need to do nothing, or it may be many years beore they do something), and you can be sure to take antibiotics before you go to the dentist to ensure that any "bugs" that might get into your blood don't lodge on your diodgy valve and cause endocarditis (an infection of the heart, which can be very serious and can even destroy your valve). Its interesting, but because the blood no longer flows nicely through your valve (because it is leaking), there are little "eddy currents" which allow the bacteria to build up and start an infection on or near your valve, which can spread. If you didn't know what you know now (like quite a few people who have this condition and have no idea that they have it), you could have got an infection of it may have been much worse before you discovered it. The problem is if you leave it too long before having a valve replaced, the ventricle can enlarge too much, and where the aorta joins your heart can start to enlarge (the aortic root), and this makes the surgery more tricky, (the aortic root may have to be replaced also), its more extensive and some side effects (such as atrial fibrillation, and irregular and sometimes rapid heart beat) etc can be more likely.
Anyway, be quided by the experts,(yoru doctor and cardiologist), stay fit, eat wel, take antibiotics as prescribed and as directed, (especially before dental procedures) and stay active. You may be advised by your doctor to avoid very heavy squats or "explosive" activities (such as sprint cycling etc), but otherwise you shoudl remain active, and be alert to symptoms such as chest pain, breathlessness, puffy ankles (a sign of heart failure), wheezes (which can in fact be what used to be called "cardiac asthma" or whats now called pulmonary oedema or fluid ion the lungs, another sign of heart failure), and keep up eregular medical checkups.
Let us know how you get on, and take care,
kind regards,
ramjet
