|
|
| |
|
Headlines:
|
 |
|
| |
Doctors Lounge - Cardiology Answers
"The information
provided on www.doctorslounge.com is designed to support, not
replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site
visitor and his/her physician."
Back to Cardiology Answers List
| U198789
- Wed Nov 03, 2004 11:42 pm |
|
:?:
I am 35 years old; I was diagnosed with PDA at 13 years. I had surgical correction and for the most part have been a healthy adult since my heart surgery. As a child I was a failure to thrive, I did not grow, I did not learn very well, and was sick with some form of infection most of my life until surgery. At the time of surgery I weighed around 72 pounds. My question is can these things cause problems later?
I now have a serious case of osteo-arthritis in my feet. It is so bad that I have already had to have joint fusion on my right foot. And will most likely have to have similar surgeries in the future. My doctors can't seem to find a reason for this at my age. I have not had any trauma that would have caused this, and they have ruled out rheumatoid. I have also had every metabolic test known to exist with everything normal. I have seen metabolic bone specialist as well as orthopedic surgeons and rheumatoid specialist. No one has been able to explain why I have this. My theory is that in my first thirteen years I simply did not develop an adequate amount of cartilage. Especially in my feet where I had very little circulation the first part of my life.
My PDA was pretty severe, I was told that only 40% of my body’s blood circulated. That 60% simply went around in a circle never leaving my heart. I was weak, short of breath, blue around the mouth, and had started puffing up around my ankles and face when they finally diagnosed me. I have also had periodic bouts of chest pain and irregular heart beats throughout my life since the surgery. Usually at night when I am drifting off to sleep. My doctor says this is just stress, but I don't consider myself as someone who is stressed out. So this has always concerned me a little. Is there anything I should watch for or problems that can come out of having PDA for so long? Any advice or input you have for me will be much appreciated.
|
| Dr. Yasser Mokhtar
- Wed Nov 17, 2004 5:16 pm |
|
 Dear U198789,
What you are saying makes sense but i have not seen it written anywhere and before i say this i went back and read lots of material on patent ductus arteriosus to make sure that i have not missed anything but i did not find any correlation between patients who had an open pda for a long period of time and development of early arthritis.
Thank you very much for using our website http://doctorslounge.com and i hope that this information helped.
Yasser Mokhtar, M.D.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Are you a Doctor, Pharmacist, PA or a Nurse?
Join the Doctors Lounge online medical community
-
Editorial activities: Publish, peer review, edit
online articles.
-
Ask a Doctor Teams: Respond to patient questions and
discuss challenging presentations with other members.
Doctors Lounge Membership
Application |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
