friendfromlowry;1710369 wrote:I haven't. I'm 27 and so far it's given me little trouble.
I was around my late 20's when the prolapse was discovered. Echo cardiograms through my 30's progressed from moderate leakage to moderate/severe. Like you no trouble and no negative changes to the structure of my heart and could run for miles. I was referred to a surgeon once in my late 30's because of the moderate/severe leakage. His advice at the time was to continue watching for any dilation of the heart muscle. I was scared of preemptive surgery and found this as a relief. So I carried on with life and did not keep up with my echo's as I should have.
I began to notice fatigue and discomfort with physical exertion. I found myself taking a break in the mail room on the way from the parking lot to my office or on any incline. When your cardiologist asks you if you are experiencing shortness of breath that is it. I developed a chronic cough eventually tinged with blood. My lungs were filling up with fluid. To make a long story short my last echo prompting my surgery within weeks showed my prolapsed leaflet had basically collapsed leaving the valve for the lack of better term stuck open.
Most people with mitral valve prolapse will not need surgery and never experience any symptoms. My advice to you is keep up with your echos. Any sign of progression be on the watch. If you have leakage that has the word severe in it and no symptoms of heart failure seriously consider preemptive surgery. I waited almost too long. My post surgery echo showed a lot of improvement just a couple of months out. Presently all of my preop symptoms are gone.
We all fear "open" heart surgery and sawing through the breast bone. But if you are like me and have no other problems with your heart minimally invasive approaches to repair the Mitral valve are available. My surgeon went in on my right side with about a 6" incision on the crease of my breast. Repair > Replacement. Good luck my friendfromlowry may you never need surgery.
