Yep-bicupid-also
Member
I am so pleased to have found this forum! A wonderful resource of information available here. I am a 53 old male that has a bicuspid aortic valve and was recently told, “I need to start preparing for a valve replacement”. I am not an athlete, but have been active, eaten well and have been generally fit, my whole life. Saying this, in my 20’s I started getting tendonitis when working or doing sports. By the time I was in my mid-30’s the tendonitis/inflammation issues were getting much worse. At that time, I had loads of tests done at the Mayo Clinic and it was found that I probably had Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS). EDS folks seem to have a higher level of heart valve deformities, so this really connected some dots for me. In 2013 I started taking a turmeric supplement to address some inflammation issues and suddenly had an unexplained Subarachnoid Hemorrhage (brain bleed). Luckily it was very small bleed and I recovered just fine. Taking the turmeric was the only thing new in my daily life so I always wondered if this was connected with the brain bleed. Turmeric can act as a blood thinner. Years later I was reading the Smithsonian magazine and there was an article about another person that had a brain bleed and was attributing it to the turmeric supplement. I am not sure if the supplement was the cause, but now facing the valve replacement options and the associated blood thinners, I have doubts about taking something like Warfarin. Since I am in my early 50’s I would like a mechanical valve that will last a long time, but concerned about the associated blood thinners. Is their anyone out there with overlapping health concerns or thoughts on this subject? Thank you, Kevin