Possible Mitrial Valve Problems...?

[robojerry]

Hi fellow valvers,

I had an avr almost five years ago now, at the age of 23. I've been experiencing spells of dizziness, or more precisely, feeling "off-balance" on and off for a few months, so I went to see the doctor last week. She listened to my chest, took my bp and everything was/sounded fine so she suggested some routine blood tests, to rule out coeliac disease or something similar.

This morning I went to get the results and they all came back very good - excellent in fact given my healthy diet. This time, however, it was a different doctor; he listened to my chest and guessed I had a tissue valve because it sounded so quiet, when I said it was mechanical he looked surprised and said that it must be situated very well, so nothing to worry about there I guess. Then he asked if I have any palpitations, and I told him that I get ectopic ones that my cardiologist knows and isn't concerned about (probably due to one of my vices - too much coffee, I know I said I had a healthy diet but no-one's perfect). But given these and the dizziness he said he "suspected" the mitrial valve (although he said he couldn't hear a irregular rhythm) and has called for an ecg to be carried out tomorrow.

Now that's got me worried; my original replacement was because of a congenital defect and so was "isolated". There has never been any suggestion that there might be something wrong with the mitrial valve, it hasn't even ever been mentioned to me before. Does replacement of the aortic valve in some cases increase the risk of developing problems in the mitrial, or would it just be a case of being unlucky? I've been led to believe that after my successful replacement surgery, my heart was just about on a par with everybody else ("normal" people, that is); is having the mitrial replaced after the aortic particularly risky?

I had worries about the (aortic) valve in the back of my mind when I went to see the doctors in the first place, but really I just thought it would be something unrelated and easily remedied, and now this...Does anyone have any experience of this happening?

 

[hook]

I had my mitral valve replaced, and my most obvious symptom was fluid in the lungs and feeling flu like.

 

[Shirley Dickey]

HI
I had my aortic valve replaced with a tissue valve in 09.. June of 2011 I had to have my mitral valve replaced with a mechanical valve and a dbl cornary bypass (coranaries was perfect in 09 according to cath, mitral valve had no leak) but i to was having the same symptoms you described and my cardio kept telling me my mitral valve leak cld not justify my symptoms so after 1 year of pushing the fact of dizzy spells heart rate and blood pressure all over the place ( never when being tested or in his office) he decided to do an echo , which lead to a TEE and then a heart cath( cardio didnt want to cause cath i had in 09 was perfect except aortic stenosis) and that is when he found 1 100% clogged coronary vein and 1 80% clogged vein... had surgery schedule for 20 days from test and low and behold I had a stroke (from heartcath) and a mild heartattack all in a weeks time had immediate surgery then.. Surgeon said problem was the post that the aortic was sewed on to pinched off ( apparently they are real close together) part of 1 coronary and 2 cornary had scar tissue pinching it off that is what caused my mitrial valve to leak.. I am 7 weeks post op and feel better than I did after the 1st surgery...
I certainly hope this isnt your case and every1 body is diffrent (scar tissue) so please if you dont feel right/normal stay on dr to keep testing till they find out what is wrong..