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Guest
Hi. I'm an otherwise healthy 49 year old man with a BAV, moderate-severe stenosis (1.2 valve area, 48 mm/hg gradient). I've seen two respected cardiologists here in NYC, one with a specialty in congenital valve disease, and they both say that I'm aysmptomatic, and indeed have both cleared me to continue my strenuous exercise routine. I trust my doctors, but my "symptoms" seem very unusual (neither cardiologist could explain them) so I guess I was just wondering if anyone else had anything like this.
Basically, the main issue is that I can't jog or run, almost at all. I can bike hard, I do indoor rock-climbing (very strenous, heart rate gets elevated fast), I do calisthenics and stretching in the morning -- no problem. I definitely don't experience any of the classic triad (shortness of breath/fainting/angina). However, if I go jogging for more than a couple of minutes, I start to feel a pressure in my chest, which radiates up to an ache between my temples and the back of the jaw and a kind of mild nausea. This is extremely uncomfortable, and goes away almost immediately if I slow to a walk. It appears related to the heart rate when I'm jogging, but at very low rates (typically kicks in at around 90-100bpm, although if I rest and continue, the rate at which it kicks in elevates, so that by the end of a jog/walk I can get it up to maybe 120/130 with only mild symptoms as above.) And again, when I climb or bike, my HR goes over 150 easily with no symptoms -- certainly nothing like this strong chest pressure/ache.
In addition to this, I have had a couple of episodes of a kind of double-vision, where the eyes are not focusing on the same point. And I do get some occasional arrhythmias, which except for an occasional "skipped beat" have mostly resolved after I quit caffeine.
Again, cardiologists are both saying wait and see. My aorta is not enlarging and walls not thickening. I have mild/moderate regurgitation, but they're not concerned about that either. Basically, they say apart from the stenotic valve, the heart is still looking good.
Does any of this -- particularly the jogging -- sound familiar to anyone? I feel like I'm in pretty good hands, but it is unnerving reading about the importance of intervention when one becomes "symptomatic."
Basically, the main issue is that I can't jog or run, almost at all. I can bike hard, I do indoor rock-climbing (very strenous, heart rate gets elevated fast), I do calisthenics and stretching in the morning -- no problem. I definitely don't experience any of the classic triad (shortness of breath/fainting/angina). However, if I go jogging for more than a couple of minutes, I start to feel a pressure in my chest, which radiates up to an ache between my temples and the back of the jaw and a kind of mild nausea. This is extremely uncomfortable, and goes away almost immediately if I slow to a walk. It appears related to the heart rate when I'm jogging, but at very low rates (typically kicks in at around 90-100bpm, although if I rest and continue, the rate at which it kicks in elevates, so that by the end of a jog/walk I can get it up to maybe 120/130 with only mild symptoms as above.) And again, when I climb or bike, my HR goes over 150 easily with no symptoms -- certainly nothing like this strong chest pressure/ache.
In addition to this, I have had a couple of episodes of a kind of double-vision, where the eyes are not focusing on the same point. And I do get some occasional arrhythmias, which except for an occasional "skipped beat" have mostly resolved after I quit caffeine.
Again, cardiologists are both saying wait and see. My aorta is not enlarging and walls not thickening. I have mild/moderate regurgitation, but they're not concerned about that either. Basically, they say apart from the stenotic valve, the heart is still looking good.
Does any of this -- particularly the jogging -- sound familiar to anyone? I feel like I'm in pretty good hands, but it is unnerving reading about the importance of intervention when one becomes "symptomatic."