Endocarditis symptoms?

[catwoman]

My PCP is trying to rule out endocarditis as the cause of FUO -- fever of unknown origin. I've had a very low-grade fever for at least 2 weeks. Temp seldom gets to 98.5 -- usually 99.2-101.2. Only other symptom has been slight headaches, loss of appetite, bitter taste in my mouth. No coughing, no pain in the chest.
CBC has been 100% normal. Blood cultures (2) haven't turned up a clue. Chest X-ray normal.

I suspect I'm suffering from a lingering viral infection, not endocarditis. My PCP says he can't be too sure it's just a virus, since I have a mechical valve. I've moved my cardio/echo (in Dallas) up from 10/6 to 5/26, but my PCP says he'll get me in sooner in Fort Worth if needed.

He told me Thursday about a patient -- with MVP -- who developed endocarditis after a dental, even though she took antibiotics (erythro). Said he put her in the hospital on IV antibiotics. She developed sclerosis at the valve and required a valvotomy -- did not require a replacement.
Told me that I'm fortunate to get able to take penicillins -- he seems to think those better against bacteria than erythromycin.

Those of you who have had endocarditis -- what were your symptoms?

 

[MelissaM]

Hi Marsha,

Sorry to hear you are having troubles. Fever is one tell-tale sign of SBE. It seems like everyone has a slightly different set of symptoms, though. Mine included:

- Headache that wouldn't go away
- Achy joints (wanted to take a hot bath a lot)
- Horrible nightmares
- Stinky, cloudy pee
- Palpitations
- Severe fatigue - tough to get up off the couch and do ANYTHING

The bitter taste in the mouth sounds familiar. I was downing A LOT of Rolaids - seemed to have a perpetual aching tummy & loss of appetite. My bloodwork came back pretty good, even when I was at a desparate stage, my CBC was strong. It was my SED rate that was high - have they tested that yet?

The echo is a pretty clear diagnositc tool.- I vote you get one sooner rather than later. And don't worry about the negative cultures. They sometimes do that.

Melissa

 

[geebee]

Marsha,

Hard to recall all symptoms but here are a couple:

Fever of 99-101 for several weeks
Joint aches
Extreme fatigue
Dizziness
Elevated sed rate

Best of luck and I will pray it's not endocarditis.

 

[catwoman]

I'm betting my problem is viral. However, my PCP says he's seen patients with endocarditis have negatives on first cultures and normal CBCs.
That's really encouraging ....

However, I've had no fatigue, palpitations or dizziness.

 

[PJmomrunner]

A tooth abcess can come with a bitter taste and a low grade fever...any bad breath or red/swollen gum area? Usually it would ache, but not necessarily....

 

[scottvant]

Endocarditis Symptoms

Endocarditis Symptoms

Those of you who have had endocarditis -- what were your symptoms?

The most obvious, and most alarming symptom I had w/ my endocarditis was a ridiculously high fever with all that entails--no low-grade fevers around here, no sir--I thought I had caught a particularly nasty case of the flu or something--almost overnight, I had awful headaches, joint and muscle pain, and a fever of 103. Though I will stop and ask for directions if I'm lost, I AM one of those men who won't go to the doctor until doomsday is nearly here--so by the time the doctors set about trying to figure out what was wrong with me, I had already been sick like that for a couple of weeks.

I didn't have a history of heart condition (my BAV was still undiagnosed at that time) but the Strep Viridans "vegetation" (yuck!) growing on my aortic valve was doing quite a number on my red blood cells--I was pretty anemic and the doctor's first best guess was "leukemia." So, off I went to the hematologist/oncologist who also seemed pretty stumped as I answered 5,000 questions, until he listened to my heart and asked, "how long have you had this heart murmur?" and I said "I don't have a heart murmur" and he said, "oh, that's not a good answer to that question--because yes you do, a *big* one."

By that point, I was waking up once or twice a night drenched in what seemed like gallons of sweat--the fever and chills made me so miserable I gave up trying to talk--too hard to talk through chattery teeth--and the kicker was when this doctor asked me if I'd lost any weight recently and I said I doubted it, more likely I had gained since I'd been sick and was basically eating whatever, feeding my cravings. I hopped on the scale, and was horrified to see that in the previous six weeks I had lost nearly 50 lbs. Having a fever of 103 - 103.5 for a month will do that to you.

I've heard of these "low grade fevers" but I'll tell ya--when I had acute endocarditis I had the Fever From Hell... No mistaking that one, nope nope nope...

Scott, feeling much better now.

 

[tommy]

Marsha,

Sorry to hear about your fever. No acompanying aches and pains?

I've always thought that blood cultures were the definitive tool for diagnosing SBE. However, that may be to confirm a roaring case. Glad you are paying attention to this now. Hope it goes away (virus).

My symptoms were low grade fever and headaches. Tylenol would knock it down. Sometimes symptoms would go away for up to a week. This persisted for a couple months until Tylenol didn't help. By that time, I was slowing down considerably. When I finally sought medical attention, my valve had been eaten away (like Scottvant - what murmur?) and I was close to septic. The blood cultures all ran "positive" for step.

Wishing you the best.

 

[pillarpaul]

Just an FYI. I had "flu-like" symptoms for a a week and a half. Had alternating fever and chills. How I didn't die is amazing. If you have those symtptoms, PLEASE go a to a DR!

Paul

 

[Valve-Viking]

I was same as Scott, thought I had a flue, never had a really bad flue,
and told my wife "I can understand senior people can die from flues".
Well, I was pretty close to doing exactly that and I stayed at home
far too long. I think if I came to hospital sooner, I might have made it
without pacemaker. My wife couldn´t help either as s had a miscarriage
at the same tïme, so she as not so observant on me either. I was
lying in one room with my "fever from hell", she in another coping with
the miscarriage. Remember trying to comfort here and I had to lean against
the hallway walls to just walk a few meters to her. Thinking back it almost
makes me laugh as it was like a scene from Ingmar Bergman movie or
something -all plain misery.

But we´re all fine now, I´m o.k and we had our second baby, just a little
later.

Check it up Marsha!

/
Martin

 

[liza]

My symptoms lingered on for about 6 months before they figured out what was wrong with me. It started last June with fatigue, achiness, chills and a loss of appetite. I had a kidney infection in September, and while I was there they said "by the way, you have hepatosplenomegaly and severe anemia." I went from doctor to doctor trying to figure out what was wrong after that. (Even ended up referrred to the cancer center!) Everything came back negative. In October I started having horrible night sweats and achy joints. I ended up in the hospital before Thanksgiving with bacterial meningitis (no bacteria cultured, but had the hallmarks of bacterial and not viral.) It wasn't until the FIFTH day I was there that someone even mentioned a heart murmur. I know it couldn't have appeared overnight! They had done an abdominal CT scan the day before to check my liver and spleen and noticed the multiple infarctions from the emboli being shed from my valve. They put two and two together and I finally had a diagnosis. Now I'm just waiting for my surgery. They never did culture any bacteria in my blood, or figure how I got this disease. I sure hope you don't have it!

Liza, T - 9 days

 

[Aunt Granny]

Sorry Your Under The Weather

Sorry Your Under The Weather

I am so sorry to hear you are feeling bad. I feel ashamed of myself it has been so long since I have visited the site. Things have really been "out of control" here at work. We have been doing alot of moving around work places and positions this year. I am now settled in and when I read your post I felt just sick. I have no advise to give you, because I have not had any symptoms ever. All can offer is my prayers

 

[nia]

I too had acute endocarditis like Scott. Symptoms included:

High fever (103-4), headache, muscle/joint pain, nightsweats, chills (i was shaking so badly I thought I was having a seizure), fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea, nose bleed, low platelet count, loss of consciousness, amnesia. According to my friends, I looked purple, with a hint of green here and there.

I went to hospitals four times in total. The first three times I was diagnosed with a flu. I was hospitalized with the fourth try, and two days later had my second stroke (i somehow managed to completely miss the first one...) that knocked me out. MVR two days after that. All cultures came back negative.

Onset of the first symptom (loss of appetite) to surgery: about 12 days.

Marsha, I sincerely hope that you do not have endocarditis.

Please take care.

 

[catwoman]

Thanks for everyone's information about experiences with endocarditis.
Yesterday, my PCP again said the repeat blood cultures were negative, the latest CBC was 100% normal, urinalysis normal, chest X-rays normal. My cardio visit/echo is in 3 weeks. My temp was 100.0 yesterday at the dr's office, but I felt OK.
He told me to check my temp throughout the day. If it starts heading into 101+, call ASAP.
I haven't had any aches/pains, night sweats, nightmares, fatigue.
I mentioned the metallic taste in my mouth and that nothing tastes right. I'm hungry, but without an appetite.
I've picked the brains of my about-to-become RN niece and she's pored through her textbooks.
Until I have more symptoms, I'm leaning toward a virus.
My PCP did say that endocarditis doesn't always grow a culture -- has to be sufficient amount of bacteria to do so. If bacteria is in very low numbers, it may not grow.

I'll definitely talk about it with my cardiologist.

 

[char2mar]

Thanks for everyone's information about experiences with endocarditis.
Yesterday, my PCP again said the repeat blood cultures were negative, the latest CBC was 100% normal, urinalysis normal, chest X-rays normal. My cardio visit/echo is in 3 weeks. My temp was 100.0 yesterday at the dr's office, but I felt OK.
He told me to check my temp throughout the day. If it starts heading into 101+, call ASAP.
I haven't had any aches/pains, night sweats, nightmares, fatigue.
I mentioned the metallic taste in my mouth and that nothing tastes right. I'm hungry, but without an appetite.
I've picked the brains of my about-to-become RN niece and she's pored through her textbooks.
Until I have more symptoms, I'm leaning toward a virus.
My PCP did say that endocarditis doesn't always grow a culture -- has to be sufficient amount of bacteria to do so. If bacteria is in very low numbers, it may not grow.

I'll definitely talk about it with my cardiologist.

Catwomen:

Yes, blood cultures are most often negative. You really need to have them done when your fever is above 101 degrees F (38 C) Even then they can still be negative. If it is viral endocarditis the cultures will always be negative. The problem with being a out patient is that the lab may not always be open when you have the fever. You should also have two sets done at one time. One set from each arm so that the bacteria is captured while is circulates through your body. Hopefully you do not have endocarditis. Good luck on your echo.

Char

 

[bvdr]

Marsha,

I sure don't know what is going on with you but I hope you start to feel better soon. If they rule out endocarditis, and the fever continues, there sill needs to be a search for a cause.