mitral valve calcification? help, please. - Heart Disorders Message Board

sbabayan · 03-18-2007, 01:28 AM

I have posted a few times on here, thinking I had mitral valve prolapse. it turns out the echocardiogram showed "slight mitral insufficiency with mild calcification. no clear diagnosis." I am only 20 years old. non smoker, good shape, female. my doctor didn't seem concerned. she told me i didn;t have to take antibiotics before dental work, nor did i have to get annual echos. that it wasn't an actual "prolapse." but i have researched this and i don;t know if this is accurate, but it's pretty bad news. can anyone shed some light on this? it sounds to me that MVP would be better. my OB/gyn also saw the report because I was going to get a laparoscopy and she wanted to see what it said, and she didn't seem to think it was a big deal. i just started a birth control pill, and it's making my symptoms come back (they had gone away with the elimination of aspartame and stress). i have read that i'm at greater risk for stroke, blood clots, heart disease, and a lot of other bad things. kenkeith, anyone? why don't the doctors seem concerned? am i researching some other condition? i ******d "mitral annular calcification." They did not tell me I had this, but it sounded like it described my results. i have also read some of the other posts on here about calcification and it sounds VERY SERIOUS. why are my doctors not concerned?

luanne320 · 03-18-2007, 06:48 AM

this is what i know. with heart stuff, it's rated, typically, mild, mild to moderate, moderate to severe and severe. the reason your doctors aren't concerned is because it's mild. i'm sure the plan is to keep an eye on it and make sure it doesn't progress. at that point, they'd probably need to do something. my son has a cadaver valve which is becoming more calcified and stenotic (narrowed). at some point it's going to need to be replaced, but for now, they'll keep an eye on it and see how it progresses.

of course, there's a big difference here. nick's is a cadaver valve, it's dead and we knew it would calcify and need replacement at some point. your valve is alive and working well.

as far as going on birth control and your symptoms returning, i'd want to talk to your doctor about that. the birth control might be making things worse and you don't want that to happen. sorry this is happening. i would want to ask the cardiologist if he expects it to progress or if it might just stay like it is. and if there is anything you can do to help prevent it from getting any worse.

hope that helped somewhat.

sbabayan · 03-18-2007, 10:16 AM

yes, thank you. but the weird thing is they told me i wouldn't need annual echos. i don't understand. why wouldn't it need to be monitored? i'm so terrified.

started04 · 03-19-2007, 09:30 AM

Hi sbabayan,

The doctor should be able to pick up an abnormal sound with the stethescope if there is any significance. The echo provides a visual display of any stenosis due to calcification so it would be definitive to the degree of any problem.

With advanced stenosis there would be a deficiency of blood pumped into circulation with each heart stroke, and there could develop clots in the upper chamber. But you are 50 or more years away from a possible stenosis problem if any. The symptoms would be shortness of breath and muscle fatigue with moderate exercise.

sbabayan · 03-19-2007, 09:39 AM

they said everything else was perfect, like the amount of blood pumping and everything. they just i had trace leakage, that was all. i get shortness of breath somteimes, esp. with soda, and i told the doctor that and she didn't seem worried. i've been getting it on this birth control pill, too, but nothing major. i have like every single mitral valve prolapse syndrome symptome.

i'm just concerned it would be getting worse, b/c why would I have this at 20 years old already?? they said i might have just been born with it. oh well

i hate doctors.