Pitting & Paradoxical Septal Motion

[kerri73]

Hello all! It's been a while since I've posted, I hop on and read occasionally to see what's going on in here, tho...

My valversary was just a couple weeks ago - 2 years on the current On-X mitral valve that I had put in. Things are going well for the most part, though I do have some things going on that I wanted to see if anyone had any experience with.

First of all - I have noticed pitting edema going on. Not so much on extreme swelling or anything, but if I squeeze my arms or press my fingers into my cheeks or sides of my legs, the prints slowly come out... the legs they will stay there for 10-20 seconds, depending on how bad it is. Who's to say how long this has really been going on - I noticed it in June when I had an infection (cellulitus) and was just paying much more attention to my body out of fear of it spreading.

Also, since my surgery my echos have started to show paradoxical septal motion, so while my heart is beating strong and there's no muscle damage, the septal wall isn't going in the right direction, so my congenital heart doctors estimate my actual EF to be in the 30s. They say it's due to my ventricular pacing, and it's fairly common... but will have to keep a closer eye on it. (I'm also on enalapril, an ace inhibitor for the lower EF).

Needless to say I'm now back to 6 month checkups (had graduated to a year for one whole year). lol. (part of that I'm sure is that my pacemaker's down to a 3 year life, so I know they'll want to keep an eye on it too).

That all sounds gloom and doom, huh? I do really feel well, other than some tiredness... which could be my not being able to sleep or everything above.

Anyway, just wanted to see if anyone else has had the pitting edema without excessive swelling or the paradoxical septal motion due to pacing... I had to look up a lot of info on the septal motion because I had never even heard of it before this!!

Thanks so much and hope all of you are doing well!!
Kerri

 

[Duffey]

I've dealt with what they call a "septal knock". Mine occurred following replacement six years ago when they diagnosed pericardial constriction. At that time I was put on a high daily dose of lasix and put on a daily weighing regime. I did have the edema without excessive swelling, but there have been a few times when it got out of control.
On another note, congrats on the two years.

 

[kerri73]

Thanks Duffey - that's interesting! I did go to a new primary physician this week (recommended by my cardiologist because she's Internal Medicine as well as Pediatrics, and sees a lot of their Congenital Heart patients, so she has a good background in it... they took some blood and ordered ultrasounds of my arms and legs to rule out clotting (I have no pain and it's so widespread I would be very surprised if there were clots, but I know they want to be safe). Will let you know if they find anything. They said this may just be the way my body processes fluids now and we may have to add another med to help with it. I was SO thankful to have a Dr confirm the swelling tho - it's not horrible, but it was noticeable. Made me feel less like a hypochondriac.

Thanks again!
Kerri

 

[ElectLive]

My one month post surgery echo report indicated the following: "Abnormal (paradoxical) septal motion consistent with RV pacemaker". My EF was 55. My cardiologist did not comment specifically on the septal motion, just said everythng looked good, I only happened to notice it later. It sounds as if it goes hand in hand in with pacemakers, or at least those paced in the right ventricle, but I have not been able to 100% confirm. It also appears to happen sometimes as a result of heart surgery too, even without pacemaker. Wish I knew more too, still researching...