P
Peggy in Alaska
Hi Runner:
I, too, am a 47 yr. old "runner" - really a jogger, but I've done a half marathon, many 10ks, was really into jogging, doing 50 mile weeks, and using jogging as my weight control since I was 20. In '84 shortly after I had my 1st child [I was 29 at the time], the OBGYN's assistant asked me if I had ever been told I had a murmur. No way, I am fit, I run all the time. She dismissed it as a common murmur, often seen in pregnant and breastfeeding women. 5 years later I thought I was overdosing on coffee because I drank a lot of it and began to find it hard to sleep because my heart felt like it was doing sommersaults and backflips in my chest when I would lay down at night. That cardio. doc took a chest x-ray and that was the 1st time I found out the right side of my heart was enlarged. He thought I might have mitral valve prolapse and possibly a hole in my heart. Off to have an echo and a heart catheterization. No hole, so the diagnosis was mitral valve prolapse. The enlargement he said was due to my exercise. I had another 2 pregnancies and continued to jog, but slowly over the years I couldn't go as far as I used to. In my good years, I'd jump out of bed and hit the treadmill and feel invigorated after 8 miles, would think, yes today I'll go 10 miles. But I was finding it very hard to go the distance, chalked it up to age, weight gain because of decreased distance, 3 kids, working full-time. In 2001, at a routine physical, my GP suggested we do another echo just to make sure the enlargement hadn't changed. And the lab tech. said to me, have you ever been told you were a blue baby? Have you ever been told you have Ebsteins? No cardio. docs in Alaska who deal with ACHD, so referred to the Mayo. Tricuspid valve replacement is inevitable in my future, and pig valves only last so long. Am going to be 48 in November so could be facing 2 of these surgeries, maybe 3 in my lifetime. I expect to live a long time.
To make a long story short. The enlargement is not due your level of physical activity, it is from the valve. And, yes, you feel great now, but that can be deceptive.
I am still fairly new to this site. And as a warning, you will read some scary stuff. But I feel there is a lot to be learned here and the support you find will be helpful.
Welcome.
Peg
I, too, am a 47 yr. old "runner" - really a jogger, but I've done a half marathon, many 10ks, was really into jogging, doing 50 mile weeks, and using jogging as my weight control since I was 20. In '84 shortly after I had my 1st child [I was 29 at the time], the OBGYN's assistant asked me if I had ever been told I had a murmur. No way, I am fit, I run all the time. She dismissed it as a common murmur, often seen in pregnant and breastfeeding women. 5 years later I thought I was overdosing on coffee because I drank a lot of it and began to find it hard to sleep because my heart felt like it was doing sommersaults and backflips in my chest when I would lay down at night. That cardio. doc took a chest x-ray and that was the 1st time I found out the right side of my heart was enlarged. He thought I might have mitral valve prolapse and possibly a hole in my heart. Off to have an echo and a heart catheterization. No hole, so the diagnosis was mitral valve prolapse. The enlargement he said was due to my exercise. I had another 2 pregnancies and continued to jog, but slowly over the years I couldn't go as far as I used to. In my good years, I'd jump out of bed and hit the treadmill and feel invigorated after 8 miles, would think, yes today I'll go 10 miles. But I was finding it very hard to go the distance, chalked it up to age, weight gain because of decreased distance, 3 kids, working full-time. In 2001, at a routine physical, my GP suggested we do another echo just to make sure the enlargement hadn't changed. And the lab tech. said to me, have you ever been told you were a blue baby? Have you ever been told you have Ebsteins? No cardio. docs in Alaska who deal with ACHD, so referred to the Mayo. Tricuspid valve replacement is inevitable in my future, and pig valves only last so long. Am going to be 48 in November so could be facing 2 of these surgeries, maybe 3 in my lifetime. I expect to live a long time.
To make a long story short. The enlargement is not due your level of physical activity, it is from the valve. And, yes, you feel great now, but that can be deceptive.
I am still fairly new to this site. And as a warning, you will read some scary stuff. But I feel there is a lot to be learned here and the support you find will be helpful.
Welcome.
Peg
