Aortic Aneurysms – Introduce yourself & meet others

I believe everyone in this group was shocked to learn they had an aneurysm. I know I was. The word alone is enough to raise the BP, and mine went very high for about a week. That was scary. I'm 78, so I'm probably not as panicked as you are at 45. But at least you know now and can be monitored and fixed when the time comes. I'll have to decide whether to have major surgery or not, depending on how old I am by the time I need it. I'm 4.2 with a leaky value for now. My hope is to make it to 85 in one piece. After that, all bets are off.

Thank you so much for sharing this. They are doing a TEE on 9/18 and I think that the point of that might be to get more detailed info on the BAV? I think it took me a good 5 days to get over the shock of the word aneurism. And I'm just now starting to think about the other issues from the initial ECHO. Just considering I went from being a fairly healthy 45 yr old to this overnight is so overwhelming. Sorry if you have mentioned this in another thread but did you know about your BAV your whole life or find out as an adult?

Thank you so much for sharing this. They are doing a TEE on 9/18 and I think that the point of that might be to get more detailed info on the BAV? I think it took me a good 5 days to get over the shock of the word aneurism. And I'm just now starting to think about the other issues from the initial ECHO. Just considering I went from being a fairly healthy 45 yr old to this overnight is so overwhelming. Sorry if you have mentioned this in another thread but did you know about your BAV your whole life or find out as an adult?

Hi, just diagnosed in August and I completely get the feeling of walking around feeling like a ticking time bomb (I constantly hear the pop goes the weasel song in my head while going about my day-to-day life) 4.2 with BAV. My Dr also put me on Toprol which I was surprised by because I only had slightly high BP 124/76 (historically I have never had high BP, so I'm assuming stress) Do you mind me asking if you have historically had high BP

I believe once they find the aneurym(s) the main goal becomes keeping your BP from rising even if it is momentaneously, there are activities and moments that may raise your BP without you even knowing (you are not monitoring your BP 24 hrs), so prescribing betablockers is a common practice. My BP was around where yours is and I also got prescribed Metoprolol, now for life. I also have a BAV, and BAVs make us more vulnerable to developing aneurysms.

My aneurysm was repaired 4 1/2 years ago, they left my BAV since it was still highly functional, I will have to have it replaced at some point in the future

I would recommend you find a cardiologist who specializes in BAVs and Aneurysms, not all of them are and certainly will have way more answers than your GP, it makes a huge difference. I was lucky to find one whose research is all around the topic and is also very focused on the genetic component. He sees me every year since having my aneurysm repaired to check my valve and every 3-4 years gets me a complete boody scan to make sure there are no new ones.

Hey I'm also female with BAV and ascending aorta 4.2 (plus some valve regurgitation). You're situation sounds really similar to mine. I'm 45 and am just finding out about BAV. I had been complaining to GP for years about some strange symptoms that once I looked them up seem like they might be connective tissue disorders. Pretty sure my Dr just thought I was a hypochondriac. Best wishes in finding answers

Hi, just diagnosed in August and I completely get the feeling of walking around feeling like a ticking time bomb (I constantly hear the pop goes the weasel song in my head while going about my day-to-day life) 4.2 with BAV. My Dr also put me on Toprol which I was surprised by because I only had slightly high BP 124/76 (historically I have never had high BP, so I'm assuming stress) Do you mind me asking if you have historically had high BP

I completely understand , I have BAV and I’ve encouraged both my boys to be screened for bicupsid valve and aneurysm . I’ve had weird things happening so I wanted to be screened for connective tissue disorders . Maybe once I finally get an appt with a cardiologist and will ask him. I wish you well and thanks for replying:)