Small Hole In My Heart

[nunntrio]

To make a long story short I had an echo done and they found a hole in my heart. I was told this is a realitively comon problem in that up to 20% of people have this. It is a opening between the left and right heart chambers that is suppose to close at birth and mine never completely closed. There is an offical name for it but I can not recall it. Anyway there was some mild shunting going on. Origionally the Dr. office called and said just to monitor it and come back in 6 months for a repeat echo. Then out of the blue the Dr. office called several weeks later and wanted me to see a cardiologist (this is at Baylor in Houston). The nurse said the internist consulted with the cardio and wants me to come in. Is there any chance this could be causing or at least contributing to my POTS symptoms? I really do not want to drive down town and pay another copay just to have another Dr. say these results are basically normal. I have done that before. I also do not want emotionally go through this roller coaster. I know I will still go but does anyone think this could be anything?

Thanks

[jonathanireland]

Hey,

Maybe your doctor just wants to get an experts opinion on the problem in hand, maybe even for some possible treatments. A hole in the heart is a congenital heart defect and can effect a person depending on the location of the hole. some of the symptoms associated with this defect are infact palpitations and ofcourse hypertension mainly because of the fact that the heart has to try that little bit harder to pump sufficient oxygenated blood around the body, due to blood that has been oxygenated passing through the hole into the other side of the heart mixing with unoxygenated blood causing the blood to be pumped back through the lungs a second time for oxygenation to occur this being the reasons symptoms occur in the first place. so maybe you need to decide is it POTS you have or the effects of your cognenital heart defect.

All the best hun get well soon

:-)

[yogini]

I think most of us here have normal echoes, so if yours is slightly different, it's worth looking into. Also, we often get ignored by our doctors. If yours thought enough of the situation to call you back and ask you to follow up with a specialist, I would definitely go to the specialist. Maybe there is a way of treating it that will help your POTS. If not, at least you tried.

[sue1234]

If I remember correctly, that is called a "patent foramen ovale". Of course, that is definitely if my foggy, POTS-induced brain serves me correctly!

I would definitely have it looked at. ANYTHING that might improve your health is worth a shot, especially if it is a defect in the heart.

Let us know how this progresses.

[juliegee]

I don't want to alarm you....and you've obviously done OK with this condition all of your life...BUT there is a small chance that the hole can cause you to throw blood clots that can be dangerous. THAT is probably why the doc wants you to see a cardiologist. Very proactive & responsible of him

When one of my fingers turned blue, they told me that I also had a hole in my heart that had thrown out a blood clot. They put me on IV blood thinners for a few days till they figured out I did NOT have a hole in my heart Just a severe case of Reynauds that took awhile to reverse.

Don't panic, but certainly promptly follow medical advise. please let us know what you find out.

Best wishes-

Julie

[lissy]

I seen a show awhile back on that condition(PFO)sorry unsure of abv. where a lady had severe headaches and they nver knew what her problem was then they found that and repaired it and the headaches and other symptoms went away.

Lissy

[nunntrio]

Thanks everyone for the replies and encouragement to look into this further. I do plan on going to the cardiologist. I got the referral paper work in the mail today. I will post when I know more.

[potsgirl]

A year of two before I was diagnosed with POTS I was diagnosed with non-ischemic cardiomyopathy. I was in CHF (chronic heart failure) and put on a couple of drugs (Coreg, Warfarin for atrial fib) and got better over the course of a year or so. Now that I have POTS and small fiber neuropathy, it is pointing my specialist to a disease that may be the underlying cause of all of my illness, so it's very important to know exactly what you're dealing with and have the results in case something new comes up down the road.

I know our heart problems are very different, but still so important to follow through on. Please let us know what you find out and how you do! Best of luck!

[Brye]

I had a bubble echo that diagnosed a hole about a year ago and then a trans esophageal echo that diagnosed a PFO (Patent Foramen Ovale) I got all excited thinking maybe there was something that could actually be fixed to relieve my POTS symptoms and cure my problems. No such luck. I take an aspirin a day to prevent a stroke and there's no need to fix it. It's apparently not all that uncommon and guess since it's been there since birth and not caused a problem no treatment necessary. I guess that was the good and the bad news for me. My grandma and all 4 of her kids had congenital heart defects as well so there's a big family history for me. Did they do a TEE for you? I guess that's how they tell better how big the hole is.

Brye

[nunntrio]

I had a bubble echo that diagnosed a hole about a year ago and then a trans esophageal echo that diagnosed a PFO (Patent Foramen Ovale) I got all excited thinking maybe there was something that could actually be fixed to relieve my POTS symptoms and cure my problems. No such luck. I take an aspirin a day to prevent a stroke and there's no need to fix it. It's apparently not all that uncommon and guess since it's been there since birth and not caused a problem no treatment necessary. I guess that was the good and the bad news for me. My grandma and all 4 of her kids had congenital heart defects as well so there's a big family history for me. Did they do a TEE for you? I guess that's how they tell better how big the hole is.

Brye

I have a feeling that is very close to what they are going to tell I have been trying not to get my hopes up. I do not know what a TEE so I probably have not had one. However, I have yet to actually talk to a caidiologist about this. Do they think your heart condition has anything to do with your POTS symptoms?

[erik]

I seen a show awhile back on that condition(PVO) where a lady had severe headaches and they nver knew what her problem was then they found that and repaired it and the headaches and other symptoms went away.

Lissy

I saw this too. Maybe it was a Mystery Diagnosis episode... or something on Discovery Health??? They said it would be a rare case for the things to be connected, but that they turned out to be in that patient's mysterious case.

[Brye]

They don't think it's contributed to my POTS. I had an enlarged heart after baby #4 and it was only pumping half strength and it could have contributed to that along with the strain of pregnancy. They don't think it's contributing to my POTS though. The enlarged heart has resolved now and my pumping strength is back to normal. A TEE (trans esophageal echo) is where they sedate you and put a tube down your throat to get a different angle of your heart. It's probably in your future if you haven't had one done yet. It wasn't awful at all, don't remember any of it in fact. Let us know what you find out! Hope it's good news!!

Brye

[nunntrio]

They don't think it's contributed to my POTS. I had an enlarged heart after baby #4 and it was only pumping half strength and it could have contributed to that along with the strain of pregnancy. They don't think it's contributing to my POTS though. The enlarged heart has resolved now and my pumping strength is back to normal. A TEE (trans esophageal echo) is where they sedate you and put a tube down your throat to get a different angle of your heart. It's probably in your future if you haven't had one done yet. It wasn't awful at all, don't remember any of it in fact. Let us know what you find out! Hope it's good news!!

Brye

Thanks I will keep you posted. The TEE does not sound like fun...Yikes

[TypewriterGirl]

I also have a small PFO that my cardiologist said is too small to fix and have said that it probably doesn't affect my POTS, but may be causing my migraines.