Feeling baffled

[Janmat]

Hi all - new to this forum so will give you a bit of history because I wonder whether there are any others out there who have been diagnosed like me, but are not suffering any related symptoms?

After having a series of scans I was amazed to be told I have severe Aortic stenosis and severe triple-vessel disease! I absolutely don’t understand the diagnosis as am totally asymptomatic. I go to the gym, lift weights and swim twice a week with no problems at all. The only reason all this came about is because I went for a pre-op assessment for knee surgery and they found a heart murmur. I have a cardiac angiogram appointment next week so hopefully this will shed more light on it all.

[Yumz199725]

Wow thank goodness you had the preop for knee surgery. That's alot to take in especially when you don't have any symptoms. Wish you all the best for your angiogram x

[Janmat in reply to Yumz199725]

Thank you. I keep thinking they’ve made a mistake, but common sense tells me ‘no’ x

[BorderCollie2024 in reply to Janmat]

I felt the same, even as I was going to theatre for my op, I kept thinking they've got it wrong! But thank goodness they've picked it up, I hope everything goes OK Keep us informed, we are all here to help 👍

[Janmat in reply to BorderCollie2024]

Thank you. It’s a bit of a shock isn’t it! What op did you have? I guess I just need reassurance that I’ll come through it ok. Open heart surgery seems so massive and scary and I don’t know anyone that has had it that I can talk to x

[BorderCollie2024 in reply to Janmat]

I had an aortic valve replacement via open heart surgery. I was terrified before the op, but it was cancelled twice on the day. By the time I went in on the third attempt, I was convinced it would be cancelled again, but it went ahead. Everything went to plan , and the care I received was amazing.

[Janmat in reply to BorderCollie2024]

Thank you, that has helped. Hope all is well with you now 😊

[Madbox]

Hi Janmat

I had really high blood pressure about 5 years ago and the doctor found a heart murmur so sent me for an echo which found I had moderate aortic stenosis and I have had annual echos since then. This year I started to get a small amount of chest pain on exertion and my last echo in March showed that the valve is now at severe.

Don't know about other issues as waiting for angiogram on 5th August. I only get mild chest pain when I workout over 130 heart rate and I still go to the gym 2/3 times a week and play golf. I can't say I'm looking forward to open heart surgery at all. I had not been symptomatic until a couple of months ago. Hope this helps.

[Janmat in reply to Madbox]

Yes, thank you it does. Seems I’m not the only one out there with little or no symptoms. I just find it really difficult to understand why no symptoms when my heart is apparently so severely damaged. No breathlessness or chest pain on exertion, no fluid build up blah, blah. My angiogram is on Thursday, obviously not looking forward to it but it will help them decide what needs to be done. At the moment I’ve been told I will probably need an aortic valve replacement and a double by-pass - that is really scaring me x

[Madbox in reply to Janmat]

Good luck on Thursday 👍 don't worry about it in advance - wait for the facts.

[Janmat in reply to Madbox]

Thank you. Am trying not to worry, but it’s so hard. Fingers crossed 🤞🏻. I’ll let you know how it goes.