Echocardiogram Report

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Kathy McCain

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 9, 2008
Messages
1,087
Location
Texas
Well, I had my echo done last Thursday. The nurse called me on Friday, and said the Echo looked good. Didn't day anything else. I always request a copy of my reports. I went to the cardios office today for my copy. Everything on the report is basically the same EXCEPT for the last part, under SUMMARY, which says, MILD PULMONARY HYPERTENSION. Why do you suppose the nurse didn't mention that when she called? I don't understand why the Dr. didn't request a follow-up? I am off the metoprolol, have had another pericarditis flare-up last week, which I told the Dr about. It seems to be getting better. However, I've had more PVCs it seems,(they know about that too) and some chest pains since being off the beta blocker. My BP and pulse is within normal range. Also, when I am lying in bed at night, I can feel my pulse quiet strongly on the left side of my neck. I have no other symptoms.

Should I be concerned, seeing the Dr made no mention of this?
How would you handle this?
 
Hi, Kathy, I think the best thing to do is take the bull by the horns and call your Cardio. Mentioning your current experiences, ask your questions. He works for you. The least you deserve is a direct response. Take care.

Larry

I agree. Keep in mind, at this point it is MILD. Are you sure your BP wasn't mild before and now they just used the words to describe it.
 
Scott,

No, this is the first time I have seen this on my echo report. Under the SUMMARY it lists MILD PULMONARY HYPERTENSION. My blood pressure has alway been on the low side, even before my AVR. I have never has this though. I believe there are a few people on the forum that have this, but I don't know exactly just what they are doing for it. I know it can be controlled with meds. I don't believe metoprolol is one of them though. It's my understanding Metoprolol is used for high blood pressure. I was on it mainly for my higher puse rate. Then later the cardio decided to keep me on the met awhile longer for th PVCs.

Oh, thank you everyone in advance with any help you can give.
 
I've stayed on the Meto for my high HR, but my BP is good.
My last year's echo stated trace pulmonary leakage which was a surprise too, even though it isn't considered abnormal.
It's probably wise to get the cardio's feedback on this anyway.
 
I'd inform the doctor of your concerns. How long have you been off of metoprolol? That could have an affect if you tapered off recently. If not, he may suggest you get back on it. Have you started any allergy medicines recently? I started getting a lot of PVCs and chest pain with Allegra-D, so just thought I'd ask.. I was on Toprol for my HR, not BP and tapered off last year and had some PVCs at first, but haven't had any problems since. I'd make an appt. to talk to your cardio to talk to him about your echo and concerns.
 
Scott,

No, this is the first time I have seen this on my echo report. Under the SUMMARY it lists MILD PULMONARY HYPERTENSION. My blood pressure has alway been on the low side, even before my AVR. I have never has this though. I believe there are a few people on the forum that have this, but I don't know exactly just what they are doing for it. I know it can be controlled with meds. I don't believe metoprolol is one of them though. It's my understanding Metoprolol is used for high blood pressure. I was on it mainly for my higher puse rate. Then later the cardio decided to keep me on the met awhile longer for th PVCs.

Oh, thank you everyone in advance with any help you can give.

Sorry to hear this Kathy but keep in mind that the summary does say 'MILD'. I was diagnosed w/high PH over a year ago. Mine however, was NOT at the mild stage! It was noted at over 88mm for quite a few months.

My cardio suggested I go see a PH specialist & was prescribed "revatio". I was not able to tolerate the 20mg 3x a day so I only take 20mg 2x but it has brought down the numbers considerably....around the 40's! There are other meds that can help lower PH pressures however, some can do damage to the kidneys on prolonged use. Revatio is a milder medication & I'm not sure if they will prescribe it in mild cases or not. You may want to ask your doctor about it.

Good luck to you & hope you get some answers soon!
 
Translating from medspeak, "mild" seems to be something of minimal or low-level concern (it is quite common to have mild valve leakage, for example), "moderate" usually means the condition merits monitoring or therapeutic treatment but not radical intervention (I have "moderate" spinal stenosis, for instance, which means therapy not back surgery yet), and "severe" means what it suggests -- time to act. (These are just my layman's interpretations of medspeak.)

Still, when you have concerns about notation of a "mild" level of any indicator on your echo, you have every right to seek and receive an explanation from the cardio. They work for us and are paid rather well.
 
I'd inform the doctor of your concerns. How long have you been off of metoprolol? That could have an affect if you tapered off recently. If not, he may suggest you get back on it. Have you started any allergy medicines recently? I started getting a lot of PVCs and chest pain with Allegra-D, so just thought I'd ask.. I was on Toprol for my HR, not BP and tapered off last year and had some PVCs at first, but haven't had any problems since. I'd make an appt. to talk to your cardio to talk to him about your echo and concerns.

Kristen, I have discontinued the Metoprolol for about 2mos. Also I have not been on any allergy meds, but had a sinus infection, and was on Amoxicillin.
 
Sorry to hear this. I'm not sure how ph is rated but I had a moderate tricuspid leak going into mitral valve surgery and I told them to fix it while they were in there and the surgeon said he'd see if it warrant that when he got in there. He didn't fix it and told me not to worry about it. My cardiologists told me not to worry either. I hope mild ph means the same, as in "don't worry about it". Good luck
 

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