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Dear friends,
I'm sorry for writing so much. I have learned a lot on this site, and I have been inspired to write and ask questions.
(Yes, I realize I've entered my name and email address. I made a link to my webpage anyway, and I don't have any problem with others knowing my medical history. It's sorta like having a medalert bracelet, eh?)
I saw a post (http://askwaltstollmd.com/archives/mvp/7607.html) and noticed that it seemed a little similar to my own troubles. This is the first time I've seen symptoms at all similar to my own, and I've never seen any possible explanation for it. I wonder if it's some rheumatic heart disease.
May 31st, 2002, I suddenly started having heart problems. For specific details, you can go to my personal webpage and click "Heart Problems?" near the top. -
http://www.angelfire.com/biz/vanderjagtcomputers/Benjamin_Vander_Jagt.html
In a nutshell, I had tachycardia with pulse probably around 160 or 170 bpm, my heart pounding, feeling of impending doom. I laid down and my arms and legs went cold and numb. My vision went cloudy white and then the back of my neck felt a little numb. I didn't have any shortness of breath, and the attack only lasted long enough for the paramedics to arrive and hook me up to the 12-point. I was not having a heart attack, of course, and my pulse was down to 120. I was starting to feel better, so I fell asleep.
For the next couple months, I would have a pair of attacks almost exactly every four days. (I work for myself and have no set routine or schedule of any kind, so it's purely physiological.) Every pair of attacks would be separated by almost exactly 30 minutes. The following tests turned up nothing, echo-cardiogram, electro-cardiogram, holter monitor (even though it recorded a tach, the doctor said he didn't see anything), chest ex-ray, and stress-test. However, my cadiologist (Dr. Kirshan Singal, very good doctor who costs less than my family doctor!) got ready to do his own echo- and he instantly said, "you have a mitral valve prolapse". He pointed out that it didn't have anything to do with my problem. I saw the echo-, too, and the valve is very obviously bulging and flopping! (How the first echo- at the hospital didn't see it is beyond me, though I hear it can come and go.)
In an attack, first, I start tapping my right foot, as if I'm bored. Each attack goes up to around 160 or 170, only starts when I'm lying down (later attacks had minor real shortness of breath) and actually starts to tach when I sit up. It acts a lot like POTS, but doesn't happen when I simply get up and has on one occasion happened when I stayed lying down. As my pulse came back down, I felt a water-hammer through my body. Then I would have that ticking for another couple hours. Each attack was also followed by cold-chills and related heavy shivering.
These attacks kept me on the couch for the two months, not even getting up to go to the bathroom. One day, after reading up on POTS, I determined to start exercising as much as I could to get myself back up to normal. The first day, I felt so proud of myself for walking to the bathroom. I worked so hard that within a week I was lifting weights and using the exercise bike. I was in much better health than before the ordeal. The tachycardia attacks stopped!
The doctor wasn't worried about my MVP, and he told me to return in August 2003. I'm worried, though. Approximately ever since that appointment, I've had what seems to be chest wall pain. Plus, my MVP seems to me more pronounced. Right now (as is often the case) every beat shakes my body. Of course, I don't know what's normal.
I don't have any symptoms of heart failure, and I still do 20 pull-ups at a time without trouble. I've always had slight leg pain just about as soon as I start walking, but it always stays slight no matter how much I walk. I've never had edema or angina.
My (maternal) grandfather has MVP (at about the age of 70, he was taken to the hospital for palpitations), and my father (who was removed from the world's gene-pool at age 50) claimed to have an enlarged heart, and his obituary said he died of a "long term illness". Both sides of my family have extraordinarily long lives with extraordinarily good health and brain function, other than my father who suffered from short life, poor health, and lack of brain function. :-p My grandpa is the only person I know of in my family who was diagnosed with MVP.
Please note I use the term MVP to mean the mitral valve bulges and doesn't close in perfect timing. I guess that we actually have something more like regurgitation, since there is a water-hammer effect. My doctor didn't investigate it any further, because it didn't seem to be a problem and it was unrelated to my tachycardia. He said he could't find any specific causes for my tachycardia, and since they didn't seem life threatening, he prescribed exercise and all the sleep I need and that I should try to figure out what triggers the attacks.
(Another doctor, Dr. Francis Evans, who I will never see again, prescribed Paxil. She was sure I suffered from anxiety. No matter how much I explained, she was determined I suffered from anxiety, and she convinced me that Paxil is safe. After the second day, I had my mom take the pills, and I locked myself up in a room, since I was feeling homicidal/suicidal...way different from my normal self! Then, a little while later, I saw in the news that Paxil causes dimentia! I went back to the doctor, and she got ready to prescribe it to me again. She also said my brother's enormous bulge next to his ear was a pimple and that I should use hot water. Without referral, we went to a pediatric specialist who removed something that normally disappears pre-natally and in fact likely prevented life-threatening infection. This leads me to ask how I normally report an incompetant doctor.)
I doubt you'll be able to help, since it seems like my case is quite bizarre. I'm just throwing out my line and hoping to get a bite.
Also, I have never seen any info about this, but is there any way to counteract a traditional symptomatic "MVP"? In other words, for an unknown reason, my mitral valve seemingly suddenly changed shape. Should I perform more/less cardiovascular exercise? Should I eat more/less fat? I avoid saturated fat, since that's what causes cholesterol to remain in the body, but is that something I actually need? (I notice that mostly thin people have mitral valve problems. I have been almost fat-free all my life...I sink in the pool.)
I'm open to wild theories. ^_^
May God bless you.
-Benjamin Vander Jagt
"I will bless them that bless you and curse them that curse you..." - God, speaking to Israel
In Reply to: Tachycardia AND MVP/regurg posted by Benjamin Vander Jagt on March 31, 2003 at 15:17:24:
After you checked the archive on MVP, you then should look at the Dysautonomia, skilled relaxation, brain chemistry, and wellness archives. You also should be taking some magnesium glycinate. I would try 500-1000 mg/day. The magnesium can help (a lot) with the tachycardia. Dr. Stoll will comment on this but, in my opinion, you just over stressed. The more you practice wellness, the more likely this will become obsolete to you.
Good luck.
In Reply to: Re: Tachycardia AND MVP/regurg posted by Jon on March 31, 2003 at 18:43:01:
Thank you very much. I'll remember to take the magnesium.
As for the stress theory, do you mean emotional or physical? If you mean emotional, then I can understand why you would think that. My doctor made the same conclusion. However, I am under less stress than a sloth. I'm financially secure (not well off, just satisfied, hehe), my family and I are harmonious and happy, my company is doing better and better, I have a good relationship with God, and I'm sure of my salvation. ^_^ Coincidentally, we have large holes in our house, but of course, I put them there intentionally.
I'm basically an emotionless guy. I do have to admit to being obsessive compulsive, but I wouldn't even call it OCD, since that requires some sort of actual "disorder". ;-)
I'm so glad to have found an active bulletin board on this topic. I'm also surprised that I found another person (from the post I linked to before) who had [somewhat] similar symptoms to my own. I had initially figured that since it was happening to me and it wasn't my own doing, it must be something that happens to a lot of people, but after intensive searching, the closest match I can find to my disorder is postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, where I match virtually every symptom except for the main one...the actual POTS itself!
Thanks for the help. I'll continue reading.
-Benjamin Vander Jagt
"Supply creates demand" - gleaned from the writings of Jean Baptiste Say (Say's law)
In Reply to: Tachycardia AND MVP/regurg posted by Benjamin Vander Jagt on March 31, 2003 at 15:17:24:
Hi, Ben.
Listen to Jon. See the stress article on the home page.
I see this as a combination of dysautonomia and low intracellular magnesium.
Let us know what you learn.
Walt
In Reply to: Re: Tachycardia AND MVP/regurg posted by Benjamin Vander Jagt on April 01, 2003 at 01:50:32:
Hi I was diagnosed with MVP about 5 years ago. I often had over the years gotton tachycardia and just use to take deep breaths and relax until it passed, until once on the way into the gym (I hadn't started my workout) I had a bad attack of palpatations. I ended up being taken to the emergency and there through an echo was diagnosed with MVP. Now I know how to manage the tachycardias. Lack of sleep, cigarettes and alcohol are lethal...but what does help is magnesium and relaxation. When you get one of the attacks, sit down and breathe slowly and deeply..it will pass. Best of luck.
In Reply to: Re: Tachycardia AND MVP/regurg posted by Eleni on April 02, 2003 at 05:51:08:
Same for me. Alcohol (and injected adrenaline) caused an instant reaction for me ever since my first attack. Lack of sleep always caused bad palpitations, too. I simply removed caffeine (in large amounts, such as coffee and cola) from my diet because of the cardiostimulant and diuretic effects. (Being a diuretic, if it dehydrated me, it could cause elevated pulse when I stood up.)
While I was at my aunt's house for a week, I had a lot of root beer and cream soda. I noticed that after having a lot of cream soda, my heart started thumping and I was getting the water-hammer effect. I assumed it had something to do with an allergic reaction to the dogs in the house, so I ignored it. (Allergy was the running theory for tachycardia at the time.) Then, a couple other times, there seemed to be a correlation between the thumping heart and chocolate and even decaffeinated coffee.
One day, I had two cups of decaf coffee, a bowl of chocolate pudding, and a bowl of Bunny Tracks ice cream (oh man that's good! Blue Bunny brand), and that night I had the bout of near-tachycardia that I described in my first message on this board.
Since then, I haven't had any caffeine. Normally (well, abnormally) I could feel my pulse throughout my body at all times. Since I did removed all caffeine, I rarely ever feel it. (Sometimes I feel it while exhaling a deep breath, but that's to be expected, even of a healthy person.)
As for the magnesium, I've been taking two daily multivitamins every day. It's not much, only about 200mg. It's Sentury-Vite, so it's obviously not USANA quality. I have to say that since I started taking the vitamins, my sleep schedule has improved, I have very rarely gotten sick (I used to be the most sickly person I knew), my concentration has impoved, and life is generally better. Granted, it's not nearly the amount that Jon recommended, but in the period that I had the tachycardia, I had recorded that vitamins made no difference in duration, schedule, or severity of attacks. I'm sorry, I really wasn't paying attention to the thumping heart. It wasn't really so noticeable until lately. I'll be sure to start the Magnesium anyway. Nutrition is always a good idea, anyway. I'll pick some up this upcoming weekend.
Thank you all for your support.
Just so you know, I haven't had an actual tachycardia attack since about last August. It seems as though exercise remedied that. :-) I think, though, that if I had sat up during my near-attack a few days ago, it would have tached out. That heavier-than-normal water-hammer didn't go away until I stopped consuming caffeine, tho.
In Reply to: bingo? posted by Benjamin Vander Jagt on April 02, 2003 at 23:04:06:
Keep in mind, that most multi vitamin/mineral suppliments contain magnesium OXIDE and in too small amounts. This stuff will rarely get absorbed very well. Magnesium Glycinate is much better. I'm speaking from experience, I have experienced many of your symtoms in the past.
In Reply to: Re: Tachycardia AND MVP/regurg posted by Eleni on April 02, 2003 at 05:51:08:
Thanks, Eleni (Jon & Ben).
Your experiences prove that the MVP has nothing to do with your symptoms. Actually, the valve has been surgically replaced without changing any of the symptoms--so, although the "diagnosis" is still being made no one would consider surgery for this ersatz "diagnosis" any more.
Walt
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