i am a 24 year old female who developed multiple cardiac symptoms after delivering my second son: ranging from: palpatations, high blood pressure (stage 2) and chest discomfort. at first doctors thought that i was crazy but after several tests they have isolated some sort of palpatations that they are still working on a diagnosis for. however, they did say that when they read my ekg that there was some evidence of a slight leak...what is this? everything moved so fast i didnt have time to ask him. if someone knows, could you please drop a little info my way....i would greatly appreciate it
Hi there, well if a person has not had an injury of some type I believe it usually means that a heart valve does not shut properly always so the blood is not pumped as efficiently. Sometimes they are minor and only show up in postitional ways such as sitting up or laying down. Sometimes they are more major and cause problems with circulation. Do you have swelling feet?
only recently, i would be seated at the computer for perhaps an hour and when i tried to stand i noticed my legs and feet were swollen badly from the knee down, i couldnt get shoes on...they are doing some sort of doppler check on my circulation next week so perhaps that is why....i also skip a lot of beats and have flutters that come in clusters, could this perhaps be related to a "leak" as well...thankyou for your help....
An ekg is not a very good source to determine heart valve insufficiency. The vulve of interest is almost always the mital valve (opens to flow blood into the left ventricle to pumped into circulation). It not uncommon to have some leakage....I have moderate to severe mitral valve regurgitation (leakage causes a back flow of blood into the upper chamber rather into circulation.
For a more reliable source is an echocardiogram with doppler software. The test color codes the normal blood flow with red and any leakage another color so it is obvious to see. I saw mine.
If the condition becomes serious, there is the risk of an enlarged left chamber enlargement. Ane echo would also provide the diminsions of the heart chambers as well.
Also, many individuals have what is called mitral valve prolapse that is congenital and the problem is that the valve leaflets under pressure during pumping phase will billow into the upper chamber causing back flow. The condtion almost never progresses nor is there a medical problem associated woth MVP.
If your child bearing time increases the size of your left ventricle, that could be the underlying cause for any leakage...an enlarged left chamber skews the opening (orifice), and sometimes when the left ventricle returns to normal size the orifice remains somewhat deformed permitting a small leak.
I hope this provides some insight to your questions. Take care.
KenKeith
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