Hi, I was recently diagnosed with a bicuspid aortic valve after suffering from odd symptoms for months. I have yet to see the cardiologist and have another month till my appointment. Naturally I'm worried and would just like some info that I can't seem to get from anyone.
I'm 40 years old with secondary fibromyalgia and mild secondary polycythemia. In August I ended up in a&e due to chest pains but tests determined it wasn't a heart attack and I was sent home. About a month later I began to have palpitations when I lay down or turned over in bed. I was tested for thyroid and sleep apnea both negative but the apnea monitor showed I had a high number of arrhythmic events whilst asleep (in 8 hours I had nearly 400 events) but no action was taken as I didn't have sleep apnea.
Due to the polycythemia (raised haemoglobin and heamatocrit) I was referred to a haematologist in December who discovered I had developed a heart murmur (it hadn't been present in August) but it was felt no further action was needed as my chest X-ray was clear and at that point no known heart problems. However at the end of December I ended up again in A&E due to being woken up with severe chest pains but again nothing was found. However the cardiac nurse decided that an echocardiogram wouldn't hurt as I had started to have chest pains and shortness of breath when walking up stairs and walking long distance or up hill. And due to the fact that my father and his mother both died of heart failure with onset in their late 30's early 40's.
I had my appointment in January and the results took 6 weeks to come back in the February that I had BAV. All that was given to my GP was one paragraph if no symptoms retest in 5 years if symptoms refer to cardiology. My dr after listening to all of this decided to refer me. My appointment is at the end of may.
Is all of this normal? I'm not too worried as from what I have read BAV is perfectly treatable but I am just a little bit fed up with how long this has gone on. The palpitations have got more frequent and I now keep having severe dizzy spells and feel very nauseous with it at times.
Sadly I live in an area with a recognised hospital that is of a very poor standard in the NHS and wondered if anyone can just give me some idea of what to expect.
I'm 40 years old with secondary fibromyalgia and mild secondary polycythemia. In August I ended up in a&e due to chest pains but tests determined it wasn't a heart attack and I was sent home. About a month later I began to have palpitations when I lay down or turned over in bed. I was tested for thyroid and sleep apnea both negative but the apnea monitor showed I had a high number of arrhythmic events whilst asleep (in 8 hours I had nearly 400 events) but no action was taken as I didn't have sleep apnea.
Due to the polycythemia (raised haemoglobin and heamatocrit) I was referred to a haematologist in December who discovered I had developed a heart murmur (it hadn't been present in August) but it was felt no further action was needed as my chest X-ray was clear and at that point no known heart problems. However at the end of December I ended up again in A&E due to being woken up with severe chest pains but again nothing was found. However the cardiac nurse decided that an echocardiogram wouldn't hurt as I had started to have chest pains and shortness of breath when walking up stairs and walking long distance or up hill. And due to the fact that my father and his mother both died of heart failure with onset in their late 30's early 40's.
I had my appointment in January and the results took 6 weeks to come back in the February that I had BAV. All that was given to my GP was one paragraph if no symptoms retest in 5 years if symptoms refer to cardiology. My dr after listening to all of this decided to refer me. My appointment is at the end of may.
Is all of this normal? I'm not too worried as from what I have read BAV is perfectly treatable but I am just a little bit fed up with how long this has gone on. The palpitations have got more frequent and I now keep having severe dizzy spells and feel very nauseous with it at times.
Sadly I live in an area with a recognised hospital that is of a very poor standard in the NHS and wondered if anyone can just give me some idea of what to expect.
