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Hi there
During my last pregnancy I had mentioned to my Dr that I was on the Phen-phen diet. My Doctor immediately ordered an echo cardiogram. The test showed that I had Mitral Valve Leaflet Prolapse. I saw on one of your many pages that you should see how you got the disease. Can you tell me if the Phen-Phen could have been a cause of this. My doctors told me it could be. I am scheduled now for an Stress echo and within the last 6 months I have developed many of the symtoms. I was symtom free for about 1 1/2 yrs. I am just trying to find what caused this for I was always healthy. Thanks
Tina
In Reply to: Intermittent Mitral Valve Leaflet proplapse posted by Tina on January 08, 2000 at 16:33:32:
Tina,
MVP causes NO symptoms in anyone!
It is already known that MVP is a normal varient of heart structure and that you could find it in about 10% of anyone walking down the street with NO symptoms. It is time for you to go beyond your current doc's knowledge and deal with what REALLY is causing your symptoms.
I have been telling everyone who would listen about this for 10 years but it is only now that the rest of the world has started to agree with me. The day will come when physicians will be embarassed that they ever made this "diagnosis".
Start with upgrading your own knowledge: Go to the homepage article, the glossary and use the search engine. Also the Mitral Valve Prolapse archives would help once you have seen the other places above.
THEN, if you still have questions, write again.
Walt
In Reply to: Re: Intermittent Mitral Valve Leaflet proplapse posted by Walt Stoll on January 09, 2000 at 11:05:30:
Ive read all the archives and I have been reading on Mitral Valve prolapse. If the sysmtoms I am having is not caused by MVP and say Is caused By CR-S then what caused the C-RS. I have been dealing with a fluttering in my throat and it feels as if my heart was going to pound out of my chest. I was told this was a fingerprint caused by the phen-fen diet which i was on. Is this true? Could that diet have caused the fluttering and loss of breath. My doctors said that it could be. Could be is not a good enough answer for me. Please help!!!!!
Thanks
Tina
In Reply to: Re: Intermittent Mitral Valve Leaflet proplapse posted by Tina on January 09, 2000 at 12:34:04:
Hi, Tina
I am probably the last person to reply to you, however,I want to let you know some of my personal experience with the PHEN PHEN DIET.
Grossly overweight, depressed and learned of immediate relative having Arrhythmia, I decided it was time for me to get off of my self imposed exile status and get a Life.
Responded to advertisement from the TV on a weight loss clinic using the Phen Phen diet. Went on to making appointment and was flaborgasted by the amount of paperwork needing to be filled out. Took me over half an hour to complete and hand to the nurse. I was weighed, measured, blood taken, given EKG, urinalysis, the works. Thought OK, now I get to see the Doctor. NOPE, had to make another appointment in two days. At that appointment I was given full physical examination. (talk about embarrassement)
The Doctor needed the two days to review the paperwork and obtain the results of all the tests. I was monitored every week for a long time with repeated blood work and EKG's, and have been since. Lost over houndred pounds and during the first year I would go through these panic attacks where my heart seemed like it would pound out of my chest, along with the throat fluttering. My Doctor encouraged me to start exercising and calming down. (I'm bull headed & failed to listen to him about exercising) Only started exercising in gym after having not at fault accident and I was trying to avoid surgery. If I had listened to my Doctor instead of being bullheaded, I might have been in better shape at time of the accident and not been injured to the degree I was injued.
Listen to DR Stoll and keep reading and try some of the stress release techniques mentioned.Even though I have an immediate family member with heart condition and others my heart is strong as an ox. (it has to be in order to carry my existing weight) Since I've started listening to my Doctor, reading, surfing the net for more information I'm no longer having my panic attacks and fluttering.
I've got other medical problems I'm learning to deal with and become a healthier person.The Phen Phen diet did not hurt me in any way, shape or form and I was on it over a year,possibly two years. TRY not to panic, calm down, even if it's sitting in guiet space for at least 20 minutes. That's what I've been trying lately or I go exercise and swim in the pool.
Good Luck and God Bless You
Paulette
In Reply to: Re: Intermittent Mitral Valve Leaflet proplapse posted by Paulette on January 09, 2000 at 14:12:47:
Well is this thing with phen-fen and heart valve problems not related. We have no heart related problems in my family, my sis and my mom where both on phenfen and then my Dr upped my dosage and here I am with what they say is a non-threatening heart problem. However, I am on meds to help keep the loss of breath and the fluttering down. My mom and sis are fine however. I just wanted to see if this diet can cause the problem that my DR said i have. I have 4 younger children, so finding time for myself is very very difficult especially when my husband is working 2 jobs so I can stay at home with our kids. However, when kids go to sleep that is my time to relax. Thanks Paulette for your responce, but im still confused with the phen-fen and heart related issues.
Tina
In Reply to: Re: Intermittent Mitral Valve Leaflet proplapse posted by Paulette on January 09, 2000 at 14:12:47:
Paulette
I had forgotten to mention that when i went to get on phen-fen, i had no papers to fill out and the only procedure done on me was my blood pressure was taken. I know the diet pill phentermine is still out there and being used, however I truly beleive that this is what caused most of my conditions that I have this day which didnt start happening until about 1 1/2 years after I was told I had mitral valve prolapse. Coincidence of this happening with no History of heart related problems in family....im thinking no. Thanks
Tina
In Reply to: Re: Intermittent Mitral Valve Leaflet proplapse posted by tina on January 09, 2000 at 16:16:29:
Hi, Tina
You seem a little calmer which is GOOD. My family didn't know of any heart problems in our family until 1994. Up until then I was able to answer NO on all health questions pertaining to family history.
The Phen Phen diet was combination of two drugs: Phentermine and Pondament (excuse my spelling). I know Phentermine is still out there, because I'm still on it: Still in my case with no side effects.
Used keyword search and input Mitral Valve Leaflet Proplapse and came up with Heart Valve Q&A site you might find interesting to read.
http://www.heartlab.rri.on.ca/qa/qa13.html
Hope that will help until DR Stoll can give you professional correct answer.
Paulette
In Reply to: Re: Intermittent Mitral Valve Leaflet proplapse posted by Paulette on January 09, 2000 at 17:11:55:
Paulette
Thanks alot. The 2 drugs i was on was phentermine and i beleive pondimin...also known as Redux...the second being the cause for concern. Many people have died from this combination which i heard caused valve problems in the heart and High Blood pressure which caused problems with the Lungs. I just hope the Dr can help me in determining if the problem I have is associated with taking this combination of drugs. Good luck on the phentermine. I however wont try a diet that consists of taking drugs anymore. Thanks
Tina
In Reply to: Re: Intermittent Mitral Valve Leaflet proplapse posted by Paulette on January 09, 2000 at 17:11:55:
Hi, Tina
Your Welcome. By the way, if I did not have such a top notch Doctor, I would not be taking any medication in order to lose weight.Know it's not safe nor practical when a balanced diet, exercise and SR can acheive results quicker and safer.
My Doctor now knows that I'm planning on cutting back and then go off of Phentermine completely. He's supporting me in my decision, since I'm taking so many others drugs. The combinations are doing havac with my physical, mental and chemical aspects of the old BODE.:-)
Paulette
In Reply to: Re: Intermittent Mitral Valve Leaflet proplapse posted by Tina on January 09, 2000 at 12:34:04:
Hi, Tina.
It is now considered very doubtful if phen-fen can cause any symptoms more than a few days after it is discontinued. It is also very doubtful if it was ever associated with any heart problem at all.
You really need to understand LGS, C-RS and stress-effect to know the answer to your question about "what caused your C-RS". Certainly getting rid of LGS and C-RS gets rid of all the symptoms ascribed to MVP while the ultrasound still shows the same MVP! Spend a few hours with the search engine, glossary and archives on these subjects as well as going to the homepage and reading the article titled "Modern Medical Interpretation of Stress".
You could also read a copy of my book through several times and you would begin to see how all this is connected.
Remember, you could actually undergo open heart surgery and make your valve perfectly "normal" and you would STILL have your symptoms. That was actually done in the early days of this FAD diagnosis. Since it never made any permanent difference in people's symptoms, that surgery is no longer done.
Hope this helps.
Walt
In Reply to: Re: Intermittent Mitral Valve Leaflet proplapse posted by Paulette on January 09, 2000 at 23:19:24:
Hi, Paulette.
Why not forward to me, by email, your list of medications presently taken and ones you have taken over the past year? Somehow I missed that in all the material you sent me for your upcoming Health Coaching session.
Even 40 years ago, in medical school, we all were taught that as soon as a person is taking 3, or more, medications their health would improve by stopping them all. It seems that the side effects from any medication, plus the additional side efffects from the interactions of medications with each other, always add up to a negative total effect as soon as 3 medications at a time is reached.
All physicians were taught this but it is too easy to just order another medication for the symptoms caused by too many medications. What a way to run a disease-care system!
Is it any wonder that conventional medical care is the 4th leading cause of death in this country???
Walt
In Reply to: Re: Intermittent Mitral Valve Leaflet proplapse posted by tina on January 09, 2000 at 16:08:03:
Tina,
So are the conventional physicians ("confused") who were prescribing it and the pharmaceutical companies who developed it. The generel consensus right now (and growing) is that there is no, and never was any, relationship between this medication combination and any heart problems. It seems that when the general population is looked at as closely as the phen-phen patients were they have the same incidence of heart "abnormalities" as the medication people.
From the Human Genome Project, it is becoming increasingly obvious that there is a MUCH wider variation of structure in individuals than we ever imagined.
Walt
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