I may have what?

As I was typing in my plastics quote for you all I got a phone call....
My grandmother called me to tell me that my uncle just passed away. We've known this was coming, so its not a big surprise. But she also told me something else while I was on the phone that she'd been meaning to tell me for a while and kept forgetting.

Some of you may remember that several months ago I had to have a wisdom tooth pulled and it turned into a night from hell after I ended up in the emergency room with really bad chest pains and extremely high blood pressure. They checked me for a heart attack to rule it out and then assumed it was gastric. In the end they said it must have been a bad reaction to the codeine I'd taken. Now, I'd taken codeine in the past without issue, but as we all know things can change after bypass so I just assumed that was the case. I've also had doctors tell me that my blood pressure really should have gone low, not high but just chalked it up to something unusual.

My grandmother had to have a heart murmur checked out several month ago and they traced it back to a condition that she cant remember the name of..but heres the kicker....its only dangerous when you have work done on your teeth! It has something to do with the blood flow between the teeth and the heart and anytime you're having work done on the teeth (even cleanings) you should have strong antibiotics before and after. Any other time its just a harmless murmur.  Also turns out that its an inherited condition and when you combine all that with the fact that when I was having all my pre-op tests for bypass  a murmur turned up and I had to have more tests to make sure everything was ok with my heart for surgery....well....I think maybe that explains a lot.
I'm going to be making some calls tomorrow and postponing my dentist appt I have scheduled for next week and calling my PCP to find out more about this, but has anyone ever heard of something like this?
Any info would be appreciated..

I haven't but good luck getting the info you need.

I'm  not sure what it is called but I have a heart mumur and I have to take antibiotics before and after a cleaning.

Hey There Lady!

I worked in the dental field for 15 years. So I can help you out with some info. Please contact your PCP or dentist with any concerns you may have.

I also have a heart murmur but I don't have to be pre-medicated. However, because I have a titanium plate in my neck, I have to be pre-medicated one hour prior to any dental visit.

Any time there is dental treatment and you have a mitral valve prolapse, otherwise known as a heart murmur, your at risk of have bacteria from your mouth being sent directly to your heart (bacteremia) and can cause endocarditis (the lining of the heart becomes inflamed).

Not all people who have heart murmurs need to have the pre-medication (otherwise called prophylaxis). Some just have to rinse with mouthwash prior to dental treatment, others don't have to do anything.

Some people go their whole lives without even knowing they have a murmur and never have any problems with it.

We can get bacteremia and endocarditis from urinary tract infections or pneumonia too.

It's actually very rare. About 2% of the population has a murmur. The risk of MVP (Mitral valve prolapse) patients contracting bacterial endocarditis is 4 in one million,without the use of prophylactic antibiotics. With antibiotics, the risk is lowered to 1.8 per million.

So, I just take my horse pills one hour before I go to be on the safe side.

I hope this helps out some.

Let me know how things work out, k?

I can talk to you more about it Saturday if you want.

Love ya!

Jules

 

Angela,

I have the heart murmer with the Mitral Valve Prolapse.  My mom has it and her mom had it too.  I didn't know I had it until I saw the cardiologist for my pre-op testing.  I have had plenty of docs listen to my heart, but Dr Levin was the first one to identify anything abnormal.  I had also heard about taking the antibiotics prior to dental work.  I have mentioned it to my dentist, Dr Pohl, my PCP AND Dr Levin.  All have agreed that USED to be the recommendation, but they no longer recommend it.  I have had PLENTY of dental work over the years, and have never had a problem....and since I was born with the MVP, I have not been affected by it in that way.  The only thing that made me think there was anything going on with my heart is that it seems to skip a beat and the most unusual times, and then it feels like it palpitates....but I do not have any arythmia.  The beat skipping is just part of having that leaky valve.

By all means, talk to YOUR docs about the situation.  Have you seen a cardiologist?  I had never seen one before seeing Dr Levin, and I saw him for the checkup prior to my surgery consults, and also for my stress test.  I am going to see him again this spring, as he is now on my list of speciailists to see each year.