Helpful Resources

I can still remember back in 2005 when my doctor found my heart murmur at a regular check up. I was scared and knew very little about heart conditions. I was sent right away to the hospital to have an echocardiogram and ekg. I was then sent to Des Moines, Iowa to undergo stress tests and was put on a heart monitor to keep track of my heart rate and rhythms. It was all very scary to me. It is hard to understand Heart Conditions if you have never had one. I was relieved to finally know what was causing all of my symptoms I was having. I had no clue what was going on. In my experience, it is very hard to get a doctor to be frank. It just doesn’t seem to happen. They talk in circles and I am unable to understand half of it.

I have found a lot of helpful resources online over the last few years. To be honest, at times, they have been more helpful than talking to a doctor. Mayo Clinic is one that I visit often. It is very easy to navigate and find resourceful information about my condition. I was diagnosed with Mitral Valve Prolapse with left Ventricular hypertrophy. Big words, big scare, and equal side effects. It’s a nightmare sometimes. I found out from the May Clinic that

Mitral valve prolapse (MVP) occurs when the valve between your heart’s left upper chamber (left atrium) and the left lower chamber (left ventricle) doesn’t close properly. When the left ventricle contracts, the valve’s flaps bulge (prolapse) upward or back into the atrium. Mitral (MIE-truhl) valve prolapse sometimes leads to blood leaking backward into the left atrium, a condition called mitral valve regurgitation.

A lot of it seemed confusing to me at first, but it didn’t take long to understand my condition and navigate through the Mayo Clinic to see the whole picture.

The Mayo Clinic states…

In most people, mitral valve prolapse isn’t life-threatening and doesn’t require treatment or changes in lifestyle. Some people with mitral valve prolapse, however, require treatment.

I, myself, have only been treated with Advil to control my heart rate. The doctors believe that I could use a beta blocker for my tachycardia, but it is ultimately up to me because sometimes the side effects of the medication can be worse than the effects of the actual disease. The beta blockers will lower my heart rate but also will lower my blood pressure which happens to drop already. A dangerous situation that I have decided to avoid for now.

Thanks to the Mayo Clinic online I have been able to better understand my disease. I use it for resource anytime I am feeling sick or experiences overwhelming side effects. It has been a great resource and I wanted to share it with anyone who has a heart condition or for other with diseases they do not understand.

If you have Mitral Valve Prolapse please visit the Mayo Clinic.