a theory
a theory
My bp began running high about twenty years ago, more than a year after I had my second child, and continued to get higher as my bicuspid became more stenosed. I had to take bp meds for about the last ten or twelve years. It was my low number that was often disproportionately high, often running 105-110 and higher. I exercised a lot those years ago and my bp rose drastically during exercise and exertion, even when my body was in fairly conditioned shape. Now with the new valve, however, I have "perfect" bp now and have to take no bp meds! That makes me HAPPY!!!
Also, my heart has beaten hard and fast for as long as I can remember and still does. And even pre-surgery, my ejection fraction, measured during an echo, was very high.
I don't know if these are typical experiences or not. Someone wrote in that he was told that low bp was a symptom of aortic stenosis, but that was certainly not so in my case. But I never fainted from the stenosis either (although I had episodes where I felt very faint and dizzy and would have to sit down and rest with increasing frequency the last few months before my surgery). The surgeon said my bicuspid measured 7 when they took it out and he also said that I was in the last year of my life, had they not replaced the valve.
My father, who had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, struggled with low bp. But I don't know if that was because of the high dosage calcium channel blocker he was prescribed for his condition, or what. He had numerous fainting episodes.
I kind of think, Lori, as I have read experiences, that perhaps men and women tend to have different onsets, so to speak, of bicuspid failures. This is just my theory. I read that in your family the women nearly (or all) have (had) the bicupsid valve. To my knowledge, there are no other bicuspids in my family, on paternal or maternal sides. There are aortic issues on the paternal side, though. But there are very few girls on that side of the family; boys run about three or more to one.
I was very interested to read in another post of yours about the episodes of feeling like you're having trouble breathing. I haven't read that anywhere else, that I recall now, but that was one thing that I kept telling my doctor, that sometimes I felt like I couldn't get enough air when I breathed. Also, the pcps and V-tach felt like they knocked the air out of me sometimes. I can hardly believe how much better I feel now. It is amazing.
