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| Painting by Cody Stewart |
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I have always had issues with my heart. A murmur was diagnosed during a routine gym examination when I was a pre-teen. The physician believed he heard a subtle, yet persistent, whooshing sound; and I was sent to a heart specialist who determined that yes, I had a murmur.
Heart murmurs, also called Mitral Valve Prolapses, are common in children, more common in girls than in boys. The murmur is caused when blood flows through the upper left and lower left atriums of the heart and some blood leaks back through the valve between the atriums.
Usually the murmur does not cause life-threatening problems. Sometimes it causes an irregular heartbeat, dizziness, shortness of breath, and chest pain.
To deal with the murmur I simply take an antibiotic each time I visit the dentist because there is a particularly harmful bacterium that resides in the mouth that can quickly travel through the blood, and harm the heart.
In the beginning when I took the antibiotic, I had some numbing in my hands. It was determined the dosage might have been a little too strong. At that time, I had to take 6 pills before the dentist appointment and 3 afterward. The dosage was lowered. And I have been taking these antibiotics now for nearly 20 years. The dentist will not perform the exam without my taking them.
But several years back, when I was 24, I also began having strange episodes that mirrored symptoms of stroke. Over the years, I have had four major episodes and a couple minor episodes. Each one having certain specific symptoms: loss of peripheral vision; a numbing of my right hand and arm; numbing in my face, cheek, nose, and lips; a feeling of disconnection from my body as I look down upon my arm and hand; some confusion and just a general uneasiness. The episodes last anywhere from a few minutes to 45 minutes, and only one resolved into a severe headache...
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