Recent content by Teapotimus

When I was diagnosed (well re-diagnosed but that's another story), I began a complete overhaul of my life. Exercise routine, supplementation, and fasting/diet/autophagy. I've written about it here, although I may try to make a really comprehensive post some time including my results in...

I feel fantastic, I have another thread on here about my very non-standard presentation of BAV and how it's going. I was diagnosed with severe stenosis a few years ago, it's been improving steadily and I am now moderate by gradients and mild by AVA. Similarly my regurgitation has begun to...

Just had my annual exam with my primary care doctor a few days ago. BP was 110/60, presumably my regurgitation is still severe with a 44% regurgitant fraction.

I've had severe regurgitation for at least 4 years at this point, probably much longer. Since I started having my blood pressure checked and taking it myself at home it's been pretty perfect at 115 - 120/60-65, no medications.

Not sure if this has been posted here before, I just got an email about it. 5 year results for an INR range of 1.5-2.0 published 4/28/2024.

I agree, they are very operator dependent, I discussed this in some detail with my new Cardiologist. When I look back at all of my results I definitely see the lack of accuracy and precision in dimensional measurements. But, my gradient readings and subsequently AVA measurement (continuity...

This is very true and probably the biggest weakness of the Ross procedure. While I believe the modern Ross to be an excellent option the huge caveat is it's only a good option when done by one of a few surgeons worldwide. Some surgeons such as Dr. Starnes have been utilizing what is...

I didn't realize this earlier but I believe this recent publication is the third decade followup of the Ross portion of that randomized clinical trial. Median follow up of 24.1 years, median age of 38 at time of operation, and 71.1% free of reoperation at 25 years. Seeing as these operations...

There is one Randomized trial on the Ross vs homografts though it's not free. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(10)60828-8/abstract I believe it's discussed in some detail in this video. There will likely be much more Ross related material and innovation in...

I haven't had surgery. I was told I needed it imminently years ago, but my AS and potentially now my AR is improving without surgery. I found the suggestion to go to annual imaging interesting, as I've been biannual for years. It's an odd dichotomy where the professionals won't directly...

Had my appointment with my Cardiologist and it was interesting. The recommendation was to switch to annual imaging as she has gone back over all of my imaging and I'm firmly in the mild/moderate camp for stenosis and down from severe to moderate/severe on the regurgitation side. I intend to...

I believe he was just referencing the future they had anticipated. To expand on this, he told me during that appointment the whole ACHD team at OHSU believed I would need valve replacement within 6 months of my initial appointment. The initial appointment was in 2021, a couple of years prior...

Updating as I had a new cardiac MRI with contrast performed a couple of days ago. The news is better than I would have expected! A 14.29% reduction in my regurgitatant fraction, completely normal LV dimensions, and a 2mm reduction in ascending aorta dimension (compared to echo so this may not...

I sold on eBay for a few years while getting through college (thousands of listings), medical devices is one of, if not the most risky category to sell on eBay. I was surprised INR meters were ever allowed on the site, eBay has a pretty clear policy on medical devices requiring a prescription...

I agree, I've dealt with discrepancies in ventricle dimensions since the beginning of my monitoring. However, the gradients and AVA have been consistently trending down. Each echo my gradients have been lower than the previous and my AVA has increased.