Querry

[Tasha1233]

Hi. I've recently found out that my high pulse rate is due to an undiagnosed heart murmer at birth..will this make me more susceptible for a heart attack?

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Since everyone is so different, I really think you should discuss this with your doctor or specialist if you have one.

[Recoder_Bill]

Hi Tasha,

As ticking-ticker suggests, talk to your GP/cardiologist/specialist, hold nothing back but just to reasure you: I was diagnosed with a heart murmur back in .... gosh, it was a long time ago now .... the 1970's I think and it's not stopped me from living a full and rewarding life and continuing to do so. Heart attacks were not an issue in my case and were never mentioned. In some ways I felt lucky because at least my heart was being checked on a regular basis so hopefully any problems would be picked up earlier.

In my case I had a bicuspid aortic valve, of course yours maybe a different heart valve so what I have to say may not be directly relevent to you. I was monitored on an annual basis and in 2005 I had the valve replaced with a mechanical valve, which made me feel 10 years younger, and I had to start taking warfarin for life - no big deal.

That would have been the end of my story ... "and they all lived happily ever after," .... but recently I was diagnosed with a thoracic aortic aneurysm and had to have my aortic root and hemi-arch replaced with a dacron graft in November 2018. This included replacing the existing mechanical valve with a mechanical valve that was integral to the dacron aortic root graft.

Again no big deal except the surgery was a bit more complex. However one thing I did discover, which may be of consequence to you if you have a bicuspid aortic valve, is that there is a correlation between having a bicuspid aortic valve (it should be tri-cuspid) and thoracic aortic aneurysms and one should be monitored for this. I think this link may have been unknown when I was diagnosed since I wasn't monitored ...... but I was lucky, the aneurysm was discovered before it became a problem hence the dacron grafts.

What I'm trying to say is that at first glance a heart murmur sounds scary but so long as you are properly monitored and if it becomes necessary in latter years, judicious action taken, then it really is no big deal.

I know that at the time I was diagnosed when I knew very little about heart valves I obsessed over my heart rate and checked it during and after any activity. Once I was doing some raking in the garden and my heart rate went up and I was extremely perturbed and went for a solitary walk to contemplate my fate, checking my heart rate along the way of course! ... but your heart rate's meant to go up if your doing something active ... what a prat I was!!

Tasha, I am thinking of you and hoping all goes well with you.

Regards,

Phil.

[Suzy1954 in reply to Recoder_Bill]

Hi Recoder Bill. I also had an aneurysm repaired 6years ago. They called it a pseudo aneurysm. They think it was caused by a previous unsuccessful mitral valve repair which I had nearly 20 years ago! I also had an aortic valve replacement 33 years ago. I think the aneurysm caused my AF but they can’t do an ablation as I’ve got too much scar tissue. They’ve mentioned another mitral valve repair but obviously I’m loathed to go ahead with that. Just goes to show how trying to have one thing fixed can sometimes cause another problem. Having said that I’m ok and grateful they could sort me out. Kind of 😬

[Recoder_Bill in reply to Suzy1954]

Hi Suzy,

Thanks for your reply.

Actually my aneurysm was a pseudo one also; I didn't mention that previously because I was trying to keep it simple and focus on Tasha's situation.

It turned out that mine must have ruptured some time before 2015 because when they noticed the aneurysm in 2018 on a CT scan for something else they then checked a previous scan from 2015 and it was present then. So really I have no idea when the aneurysm itself actually happened, just that it was before 2015.

It seems that scar tissue from a previous cancer operation done in 1995 was containing the blood from the aneurysm, otherwise I'd have bleed to death pretty quickly when it ruptured. So I am one of the few people who can say that cancer saved my life!

Interestingly my AF I think started after the cancer surgery in 1995 but I don't think it became a noticeable issue until about 2010 ...201?'ish

As for one thing causing another; I had a twisted bowel in 2015 and as a result of that I had two incisional hernias one after the other and now I've got a permanent "beer belly" because in both attempts to repair my abdomen it was less than successful! That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it and ... it's true!

I guess it just makes us more unique................... and loveable.

Regards,

Phil.

[Suzy1954 in reply to Recoder_Bill]

Blimey Phil you’ve been through the mill!

Hopefully things will be peaceful on the health side from now on.

All the best 👍