Dr. Stoll, My husband has symptoms of tachycardia, tachypnea, dizziness, panic, nausea,lack of energy, and some others. His symptoms are sporadic and do not seem to be related to any certain activity although some activities do bring on the symptoms some times. Another symptom he has is a sound in the artery in his neck. He hears a "wooshing" sound sometimes while having the other symptoms and sometimes during physical activities. These symptoms originated after he had taken Tylenol Sinus for 4-5 days in a row due to his allergies. They came on suddenly and he had never had the symptoms before. Being afraid of heart trouble I interviewed his family and found out that his grandmother and uncle both had mitral valve replacements and his brother, sister and mother have been diagnosed with mitral valve dysfunction, as well as a niece.
Is mitral valve prolapse hereditary? I have been reading online that it is a mild problem and poses no significant threat to the person who has it. In spite of the reassurance my husband and I are fearful that it may be more serious than we would like to believe. After what I have told you what is your "off the record" opinion? My husband has been to the ER twice in 98 and the Dr's basically chuckeled at his concerns and told him that he needs to take an aspirin everyday and don't worry.
Please write me.
Thank You,
Mary Owen
Follow Ups:
Re: Heredity and Mitral valve prolapse (FORGET IT!)
Posted by Walt Stoll on February 24, 1999 at 11:28:09:
In Reply to: Heredity and Mitral valve prolapse posted by Mary on February 23, 1999 at 01:51:16:
Dear Mary,
Your husband has a lot more serious things to worry about than MVP. Those ancestors who had surgery for their mitral valves did NOT have MVP. You will find that they almost certainly had mitral valve regurgitation due to rheumatic heart disease. This condition has NOTHING to do with MVP which has NO symptoms or risk associated with it. It is a FAD diagnosis that will not be made 10 years from now. Of course, I tend to still have more faith in my profession than it deserves so it might take 20 years.
ALL of your husband's conditions are related to the same basic causes. If either of you want to understand that, which understanding is his first step to resolving all of them, you both need to read a copy of my book (link on this page). THEN, if that makes sense to you, you need to read a book that was actually written about him: Dr Pelletier's classic "Mind as Healer, Mind as Slayer" (most recent edition).
THEN, if either of you still have questions, write again. ALL of the things he has are totally unnecessary.
Walt