At the Hotter than Hell I experienced difficulty breathing which led me to schedule an appointment with my doctor which led to an appointment with a cardiologist which led to an echograph of my heart. I spoke with the nurse yesterday and she told me there was trace tricuspid and mitral regurgitation. I have a stress treadmill test on the 27th, but my current emotional stress is off the chart. Has anyone ever received a prognosis like this and if so did it end your racing?
Are you describing a circumstance where your veinous and arterial sides aren’t entirely isolated in your heart? A ratehr common birth malady called a “Patent Foramen Ovale”?
Like this:
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trace tr and mr is no big deal.
I have to be honest, I don’t really know what I’m describing. The doctor told me he would not schedule a stress test unless something was wrong with the echocardiogram. On Wed. they called and said one had been scheduled. I’ve pretty much been in panic mode since then. Finally I spoke with a nurse at the office last night and she relayed to me the info about regurgitation. My biggest fear is dying. My second is being told I can no longer race. Obviously, I might be overreacting and blowing this out of proportion, but being told something is wrong with my heart is something I’ve never experienced before.
Calm down, it’s not a big deal. They scheduled a stress test because it’s part of the protocol to make sure everything is ok.
I agree that it is not a big deal, it basically means that those two valves are not making a complete seal, some regurgitation is common DON’T PANIC
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TTUlaw - no biggie here. First, what you’re describing is the flow characteristics of two of the four valves of the heart. And, not to take any horsepower away from your doc, but you’ll be told that “trace tricuspid and mitral regurgitation” is within normal limits! So, forget about it.
Then, you’ll be told why they want the stress test. I’ve had two, the second by my Cardiologist brother, who was calmly reading a magazine as I was sweating to death on the treadmill. What’s fun is to not let them end the test until you’ve reached Bruce stage VI. It will push you to do this but you, being a very fit triathlete, will get the highest score they see that day! And it’s fun…you can call it a workout and maybe your coach will give you a break. Maybe not.
Lastly, what Tom Demerly has suggested is a good guess but occurs in a different part of the heart and is pretty easy to see on echo. With what you’ve presented, I don’t think you have PFO, this is just valvular.
Your echo is better than mine and I won my age group in my last two races (this summer.) Good luck.
John
I’ve had moderate regurg thru a leaky mitral valve my entire life - I am asymptomatic. I get stress echo every January and have been cleared to race anything I want (that has included 8 years of triathlon, 6 fulls, 10 halfs and a zillion other things).
Slowtwitch is not a doctors office - find a cardiologist that understands endurance sports (mine trains with me). Don’t wait around for black and white answers - they may not be any forthcoming.
I don’t in any way mean to diminish the urgency to address this but, don’t spend energy panicing about it.
I had a “situation” about a year and a half ago. It was scary. They fixed it. I’m fine now.
One of many things I learned from it was that they can fix most things quite well if, indeed, there is an issue.
In any case keep us posted and don’t invest good energy in being worried about it. Do go to your doctor’s appointment and heed their advice.
Best of luck Sir.
I have a preventricular contraction and a mitral regurgitation. I’m still training and racing, it’s no big deal.
Also, heart health is critical to my career and my doc told me I was doing great.
I had trace MR and TR years ago and got denied insurance by one company over the silliness. My cardiologist said it was no big deal. That was 20 years and many races ago. Have had no additional followup and I’m sound as a pound…I think.
but of course i was assymptomatic…so ymmv