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I am sorry to post here about this since it is not HCM related, but I need some suggestions/opinions from people I know are knowledgable in cardiac issues and whose opinions I trust! My head has been spinning for weeks over this!
I will try to make this short.............My husband has been suffering from what appear to be TIAs (Transient Ischemic Attacks) or mini-strokes. He has sudden episodes where he loses his sight, gets dizzy, the whole left side of his body goes numb from shoulder to toe, and he loses his balance. These happen about once every 2 months. he also battles constant headaches every day.These symptoms sent us to a neurologist a year ago. He brushed us off, said Bob was too young for strokes, (52) and said it was caused by migrains. My husbands' last TIA type attack was much more severe and was witnessed by co-workers. His employer requested he check into it again due to the dangers it poses at work.
So a month ago we went to a different neurologist who sent him for several tests. (full blood work-up, MRI, MRA, echo, TEE, etc.) What the neurologist told us is...........the MRI and MRA came back good. However the echo and TEE showed several problems with his heart. He has a PFO, an atrial septal aneurysm and he also has mitral valve prolapse with regurgitation.
Even though I know quite a bit about the heart and the terms used this guy had us so confused when we left! He kept contradicting himself over and over again. He told us he wants to just treat this with a daily asprin. he said he feels coumadin is more of a risk then the heart defects themselves. He said he also feels having any type of surgery to fix the defects is more of a risk then living with them.
then I started asking questions, such as .....
Is there shunting with the PFO and if so how much shunting is there?
What level of regurgitation is there?
Isn't having all of these together quite a bit more risky then if he had just one of them?
etc...
He finally said "Well, let me just read to you what the cardiologists report says." As he was reading he would come upon something and stop and make a comment like "oh, well that puts you at even higher risk.!" And as he was reading we found out some of the details. The report stated he had "significant" shunting from right to left, AND THEN, back left to right. (Both ways.) It also listed the MV regurgitation as "significant" and I don't recall what it stated exactly about the septal aneurysm.
As he was reading these things he would comment about this or that making things more serious or concerning. We are going to see a cardiologist next week (same facility) to get his opinion, but when all was said and done the neurologist stood by his opinion of just treating my husband with an asprin per day.
What do you all think? I know PFO is pretty common, and I know Mitral Valve Prolapse is pretty common. But when there is "significant" shunting and regurgitation, septal wall aneurysm, plus all these TIA like attacks he has had would you all feel comfortable treating it with an asprin per day?! If the cardiologist has the same opinion should we just leave it at that?
I will try to make this short.............My husband has been suffering from what appear to be TIAs (Transient Ischemic Attacks) or mini-strokes. He has sudden episodes where he loses his sight, gets dizzy, the whole left side of his body goes numb from shoulder to toe, and he loses his balance. These happen about once every 2 months. he also battles constant headaches every day.These symptoms sent us to a neurologist a year ago. He brushed us off, said Bob was too young for strokes, (52) and said it was caused by migrains. My husbands' last TIA type attack was much more severe and was witnessed by co-workers. His employer requested he check into it again due to the dangers it poses at work.
So a month ago we went to a different neurologist who sent him for several tests. (full blood work-up, MRI, MRA, echo, TEE, etc.) What the neurologist told us is...........the MRI and MRA came back good. However the echo and TEE showed several problems with his heart. He has a PFO, an atrial septal aneurysm and he also has mitral valve prolapse with regurgitation.
Even though I know quite a bit about the heart and the terms used this guy had us so confused when we left! He kept contradicting himself over and over again. He told us he wants to just treat this with a daily asprin. he said he feels coumadin is more of a risk then the heart defects themselves. He said he also feels having any type of surgery to fix the defects is more of a risk then living with them.
then I started asking questions, such as .....
Is there shunting with the PFO and if so how much shunting is there?
What level of regurgitation is there?
Isn't having all of these together quite a bit more risky then if he had just one of them?
etc...
He finally said "Well, let me just read to you what the cardiologists report says." As he was reading he would come upon something and stop and make a comment like "oh, well that puts you at even higher risk.!" And as he was reading we found out some of the details. The report stated he had "significant" shunting from right to left, AND THEN, back left to right. (Both ways.) It also listed the MV regurgitation as "significant" and I don't recall what it stated exactly about the septal aneurysm.
As he was reading these things he would comment about this or that making things more serious or concerning. We are going to see a cardiologist next week (same facility) to get his opinion, but when all was said and done the neurologist stood by his opinion of just treating my husband with an asprin per day.
What do you all think? I know PFO is pretty common, and I know Mitral Valve Prolapse is pretty common. But when there is "significant" shunting and regurgitation, septal wall aneurysm, plus all these TIA like attacks he has had would you all feel comfortable treating it with an asprin per day?! If the cardiologist has the same opinion should we just leave it at that?
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