carinara Posted June 17, 2008 Report Share Posted June 17, 2008 Does anybody know how a Mitral valve prolaps and POTS are related? I have both POTS and a mild MVP. I keep reading that they are somehow connected! Can somebody explain that to me? Thank you very much!carinara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoudiniCat Posted June 17, 2008 Report Share Posted June 17, 2008 I?m not sure I really understand this thoroughly myself but I was dx?d with mild MVP as a teen and throughout my life it has come and gone ? sometimes docs could here it, other times not and sometimes it showed up on echo and other times not. I know that sometimes the echoes can be open to interpretation by the doc but couldn?t understand how this appeared to come and go throughout my life. I never had any problems so really thought about it. Then in 2006 (at 45), seemingly out of the blue, I developed and was dx?d with POTS. My POTS specialist believes that, depending on blood volume, MVP will either show up or not. He believes there is actually no physical abnormality in most POTS patients, but that when blood volume is low, the valve appears to prolapse. He?s even done a little demo for me where I/he can hear the click/murmur when I?m feeling bad and haven?t had enough salt/water (but I don?t feel dehydrated??) and it disappears when I?m feeling good . . . or even sometimes it will appear/disappear when I change position from standing to lying. Very interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Megan Posted June 17, 2008 Report Share Posted June 17, 2008 Do you by chance have hypermobility syndrome? ( a type of EDS, type 6 maybe?) I know that hypermobility and mvp can be related...although I'm not sure how. Good question!Meg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
summer Posted June 17, 2008 Report Share Posted June 17, 2008 This is also interesting to me. My GP has heard a moderately loud murmur off and on, and originally, he was sure I had MVP. He sent me for an echo, but no abnormalities were found. He was quite surprised that nothing showed up. So it's actually possible to have MVP that might not always show up on an echo? Although I have no diagnosis of hypermobility, I do have flexible joints, mild scoliosis and some mild sternum and rib "differences". I now have a diagnosis of POTS. Do you think these are all related? How interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delphicdragon Posted June 17, 2008 Report Share Posted June 17, 2008 I too have an MVP and POTS and EDS! (Yippee!!) My MVP is dependent on position. When I stand up or am propped up on a table, the murmur is there, yet when laying down (as I was when the echo was done) low and behold, no MVP. I read some study (can't remember now where) where POTS and MVP were linked. MVP was called Soldier's Heart and caused symptoms very similar to POTS. In the article MVP and POTS were linked. The relation to hyper-mobility and MVP is that the collagen (stretchy stuff in skin and tendons that holds stuff together) is abnormal.This is abnormal not just in tendons but in veins (hence the blood pooling) and the heart (hence the MVP). We don't have enough tension in our "stretchy stuff" to make the valve close tightly. (Apologies for the oversimplified explanation- I'm having trouble speeling )Sara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cardiactec Posted June 18, 2008 Report Share Posted June 18, 2008 I too have quite an interest here in a possible link between pots/autonomic dysfunction and MVP. where most people with MVP do not have pots, some people with pots do not have MVP - but with any pathology there can be more than one etiology (cause). I think one etiology of pots is connective tissue disease ie: marfan syndrome, ehler danlos, etc. MVP is basically caused from collagenous fibers that are messed up by a process called myxomatous degeneration. this means that the structural protein collagen forms abnormally and causes thickening, enlargement, and redundancy of the leaflets and chordae..........if collagen here, in the heart is messed up, than makes sense that collagen elsewhere in the body most likely too is messed up -- loose, lax. collagen is a building block to hold structures together. makes sense that people with messed up collagen would pool in their legs, have MVP, and other bizarre features that are not understood by most medical personnel.I have heard doctors say there is a connection, i have also heard that they are not. some docs from mayo believe they are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carly87 Posted June 18, 2008 Report Share Posted June 18, 2008 This is interesting info for me. I was diagnosed with MVP way before my dysautonomia started coming along...But my doctors basically brushed off the MVP like tons of people have it and it is hardly ever problematic. Weird thing, last time I went to have an echo (Dec...so approx. 7 months ago) my MVP didn't show up at all. Cardiologist said nothing looks remarkable on my echo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoudiniCat Posted June 18, 2008 Report Share Posted June 18, 2008 My POTS doc explained his MVP/no MVP correlation with low blood volume with the analogy that regular people are like water balloons that are 100% full. With POTS, I?m maybe 80% full. Stand a regular water balloon up on end and they?re fine. Stand up my 80%-full water balloon on end and all the water goes to the bottom ? none on the top ? the water (blood) is pooling in my lower extremities and I?m getting symptomatic (brain fog, dizzy, tachy, low BP, whatever the symptom du jour). If he?s listening to my heart at this point, you can definitely hear the click/murmur. Now lay the 80%-filled water balloon down flat and water (blood) spreads out from head to toe. Lay down to have my echo done at this time and ? guess what ? no MVP seen/heard ? and symptoms start to ease or disappear. Very weird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ana13sanchez Posted November 27, 2008 Report Share Posted November 27, 2008 I went to see a cardiologist because of my tachicardia, I explained to him all my years and years of syncope vasovagal episodes and no one could have a right diagnosis, (panic attacks, stress, even carcinoid tumors!!) He asked me tons of questions, he did an echo to me and found nothing... but he did an ultrasound to my heart and he told me he found the mvp... and diagnosed Dysautonomia and said this and mvp often come together and there was no exact explanation to this. unfortunatley in Mexico is very hard to find a doctor who actually knows about this dysautonomia stuff..... and I live in Guadalajara, so it is even harder to find some doctor who can treat this, my cardiologist even recommend me to look on internet all information about this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramakentesh Posted November 28, 2008 Report Share Posted November 28, 2008 I was in Guadalajara a couple of months back on holiday. Enjoyed Mexico greatly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ana13sanchez Posted November 28, 2008 Report Share Posted November 28, 2008 Guadalajara is a lovely city, I am glad you have enjoyed it!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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