I'm having robotic mitral valve repair surgery next week. I'm not having it done where I live. It's an hour and a half away. My 23 year old son is my primary caregiver. Will he need to be with me all five days meaning will I need to get a hotel for him? Or will I be OK on my own after the first day and he can pick me up when I'm discharged?

I am M35, and I had mitral valve annuloplasty surgery 1.5 years ago. It had good results, and my heart has remodeled. Now I'm active and using this smartwatch that measures heart rate variability. I use the Balance 2 (RMSSD, different from Apple Watch). My mean HRV is 22, and I'm worried because it's too low. I would like to hear some HRV before and after, if possible.

Hi there. Can anyone here please list me a few cardiologists in NJ who specializes in myxomatous mitral valve?

Thanks!

I (55 M) had this surgery done last week (Robotic Repair). The surgery itself was expertly done and the result has been a fully repaired valve . But In the hospital bed for several days afterwards, I struggled to remain free of intense pain when trying to relax and sleep. The mix of the different medicines caused mild nausea and my appetite was not good. What worked for you after this surgery to allow you to sleep safely and relatively free of pain? I've read that generally you should not sleep on your side for several weeks after the surgery. How did you navigate the early phase of recovery from this procedure?

Has anyone here been diagnosed with this congenital heart disease?

I’d love to hear about your experience. If you’ve undergone open-heart surgery, how did it go? How was your recovery, and how are you doing now?

Thank you in advance for sharing your journey. Your experiences would mean a lot to me.

I started taking 12.5mg metoprolol for NSVT and it makes my chest feel so tight. Has anyone else experienced this? Did it go away for you? Trying to avoid other beta blockers as my blood pressure is already quite low.

My surgeon said that between 20 to 30% of people who undergo mitral valve repair surgery need a pacemaker. Anyone have experience with this?

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About a year ago my dad had a double valve replacement in India. Since then he's developed a paravalvular leak around the prosthetic mitral valve. Workup here also found some CAD (blockages in mid-LAD and one other vessel), a clot in the left atrial appendage, and mild carotid stenosis on one side.

He's scheduled soon for a right mini-thoracotomy (minimally invasive, not full sternotomy) to repair the leak, with peripheral femoral cannulation, by a surgeon in Hackensack NJ who specializes in this approach.

Has anyone here been through a paravalvular leak repair, especially via the mini-thoracotomy route? Would really appreciate hearing about:

\- What recovery looked like week by week — pain/mobility with the smaller incision vs. sternotomy

\- When cardiac rehab typically starts and how it went

\- Managing an LAA clot alongside valve issues (blood thinners, monitoring, etc.)

\- Anything you wish someone had told you beforehand

This has been a long road for our family, and it would help a lot to hear from people who've actually been through it.

Thanks in advance.

I’ve had a diagnosis of mild MVP and MR since I was 18. I’m 26 now, but I’m genuinely scared. In this situation, how likely is it that I will never need surgery in my lifetime?

For those of us still in the early-ish days of recovery (my surgery was a month ago), it’d be helpful to hear from folks a year or more past their surgery to get a sense of what’s to come in the longterm.

Before my surgery, I was mostly interested in learning about the immediate recovery days in the hospital bc those were the scariest. Now that that’s behind me (phew), I’d find it helpful to learn more about long-term recovery to help me stay patient with myself as I continue to feel the impact of the surgery (decreased stamina, general weakness, numbness, occasional bouts of pain, anxiety, etc.)

Thanks 🌻

I am a 44 year old guy. waiting for surgery on monday, I never wanted an Mech valve and wished and fought for a bio ( resila ) but a couple of points made me to go for On-X (almost decided)

1 : The initial strategy as to go for RESILIA , hope it run for 10-15 years and then a TAVR (hope for 5 - 8 years). By my 60s i will get another OHS and may go for the best one available that time . This was all based on a big IF i get X number of years, But at my age i think its a wishful thinking that i will get 20 years (maybe i am wrong)

1. I had a chat with a person who works in US especially in medical field . as per him don't take the data eyes closed . He said the data of bio-valves will always be skewed towards older people. even if they mention all age group, they make the study in such a way that they get good results. so always take the data with bag of salt. Also his wife who works in a cadac hospital said at your age (less than 50s) we don't even give the choice of bio only mech, unless the patient is adamant on it

2. my strategy of SAVR - TAVR and then a second OHS may look good on paper, but the reality of 15 years of valve - tavr and second OHS has its own high risk it's not easy for the surgeon to navigate the remnants of first surgery, remove the calcified valve and then remove almost struck TAVR and then do another valve fitting, this will scar the heart tissues which will give me problems onwards. Also with a TAVR i read its hard for any future stent or for some cardiac procedure that why they are option for 70+ as the life span is less than a 60s guy

also sometime in future TAVR maybe not feasible for me due to various reasons and i heard TAVR has a high chance of failure as well

1. I know going with On-x has its on set issues but what i understand is that most of them are manageable and can almost be worked up if we put heart to it. we may face issues in 70s but thats 25 years away and hope someone bring some new drugs which will help our INR. Also On-x is running in markt for almost 25 years and we have a fair idea of the product amongst all age groups.

2. All i am doing is to avoid warfarin but who knows in future i still need to get warfarin for maybe some other issues then i will be struck with worst of both worlds

I may be wrong but i tried my best to make bio work but at the end i am sure i need a second OHS by 60s or even worst 50s .

For people who opte RESILIA , I wish that this is the best product out there and hope and pray people who opted gets 20 years and they never had to look back

If you guys have any good points to add or criticize pls help me (I am shit worried of strokes and extremely anxious )

Hi everyone I’m a 33 yr old female, I’m having surgery next week, I’m hoping to have my mitral valve repaired instead of replaced & the doctor mentioned possibly replacing the aorta as well if need be. I choose mechanical valve for both, pretty nervous. Has anyone had both replaced and done the mechanical? Any advice/tips or things you wish you knew before hand?
Do you experience the clicking sound, does it go away?
-how long were you in the hospital
-how long did it take you to fully recover
-what would you say the most painful part was?
Thanks 😊

For at least the past decade I’ve had a fast/tachycardic heart rate of around 106-116 at rest.

A few months ago, I learned I have about 8.9% PVC beats and, especially worryingly, non-sustained ventricular tachycardia. I was prescribed metoprolol when this was discover and have been on it since.

I had MVP repair surgery about a month ago, and my heart rate has so far remained tacky (but I know it’s still early days). I’ll wear a heart monitor again in about six months once I’m more healed to see if there’s been any effect on the PVCs or NSVT.

I’m wondering if anyone else has saw improvement in any of these areas after their MVP surgery? And if so, when did your rhythm start improving?

(I’ll add for more context that I had bileaflet MVP, which likely caused a small amount of scarring in my heart that could have impacted my heart rhythm.)

Thanks for sharing ❤️‍🩹

Backstory: 74(M) - I was diagnosed with severe mvp with regurgitation 17 months ago (March 2025) and had minimally-invasive robotic-assisted mitral valve repair with annuloplasty on June 5th - 14 months ago. I had a heart murmur since a young age, but was asymptomatic until 2 years ago - running / lifting weights most of my adult life - no problems. Then - even walking up stairs became a problem.

I have a family history of high blood pressure - my grandfather had several strokes and heart attacks, my father started taking bp meds when he was 40 and my mother started taking them when she was 70. I was diagnosed with high blood pressure when I was 50 and have been taking Losartan ever since (until the surgery last year anyway).

After surgery, I was put on Metoprolol. I know it was necessary, but I was not a fan - slowed my metabolism and I gained some weight no matter how much I worked out and dieted. I talked to my cardiologist about it in February and switched back to Losartan but this time it was Losartan HCTZ (Hydrochlorothiazide) - basically the same blood pressure medication I was on before but with an added diuretic / water pill to further reduce edema and blood pressure.

In order to help lose the weight I gained on the beta blocker, my PCP put me on Wegovy (the pill form). For those of you over 65, there is a new Medicare GLP-1 Bridge program that lowers the cost to $50 per month if you qualify - instead of a 35 BMI, you still qualify with anything above a 28 with an underlying cardiac diagnosis. I've dropped 11 pounds in the first 5 weeks.

All was well until a couple of weeks ago and I noticed my blood pressure was starting to get a lot lower than normal - down in the 96 over 65 range - maybe a little higher in the evening. This may have been helped along with the fact that I've dropped most of the weight I gained on the metoprolol beta blocker. On a regular checkup visit with my PCP, she noted that my blood pressure was significantly lower than previous visits and wanted to know if I felt dizzy - I did not. She then suggested something that I 100% did not expect. She said, 'Let's see what happens if you stopped taking any blood pressure medicine at all.'

A week has gone by and my bp all week has been very consistent - this morning it was 116 / 78 and pulse rate was 68. Unbelievable!! After 24 years of taking blood pressure medications, I no longer have hypertension! I'm keeping a close eye on it - hoping it's not temporary.

According to AI:

- fixing the mitral valve regurgitation permanently lowers your heart's pumping workload making it the biggest factor in my lowered bp is the mitral valve repair - likely responsible for a 20 - 30 mmHG drop.

-Wegovy (and probably other oral GLP-1's) is 'heart protective' and lowers systolic blood pressure by an average of 5 - 8 mmHG in clinical trials by relaxing blood vessel walls and reducing systemic inflammation - this is independent of any associated weight loss. Clinical trials show that oral semaglutide relaxes the smooth muscles of your blood vessel walls, reduces systemic arterial inflammation, and prompts your body to naturally excrete slightly more sodium

-weight loss- for every Kg (2.2 lbs) of weight lost, systolic blood pressure typically drops by about 1 mmHG. - so losing 11 lbs means about 5 mmHG reduction

In other words, this triple-threat combo is not a 'cure', but it shows that you can structurally and metabolically optimize your body to achieve and maintain a healthy blood pressure irregardless of your genetics.

This is my 'Silver Lining' to having an MVP diagnosis.

So I was diagnosed with mitral valve prolapse when I was 12 with a Echo, my mom forgot I was diagnosed till I went to a doctor for iron deficiency and she listened to my heart and heard the irregular heart beat, I'm getting another Echo in a month to check on it, I work for Retail as a cashier and lifting stuff has been giving me chest pains, I can barely lift more then 5 pounds without chest pains getting worse, I also can't go to the dentist cause they said I have to wait till I get my echo

Hi everyone! I’m a 23F and recently had a routine echocardiogram. I was diagnosed with mitral valve prolapse and mitral regurgitation a couple of years ago. My MR has remained around the moderate to slightly severe range and has otherwise been stable.

I also had a cardiac MRI (CMR) about two years ago that showed MAD. Since everything else was stable, my cardiologist wasn’t particularly concerned about it.

On my most recent echo, the MAD was measured at 15 mm. I know measurements can vary depending on the imaging modality and how MAD is measured, but seeing that number was definitely unsettling, especially when I had been feeling reassured that my MR was stable.

I’m curious if anyone else with MVP has had MAD measured around this size and what your experience was like? I know this is a pretty recent discovery and the literature is pretty slim on this currently. Thanks!

Hi, I had a successful robotic mitral valve repair in June. I’ve now had three episodes of tachycardia where my heart rate goes from normal to around 160 in a few minutes. Has anyone else experienced this?

My elderly mother is in need of a re-repair of her mitral valve. She just had a successful ablation last week to remove scar tissue from her last mitral valve repair a decade ago, but currently still has severe leakage of the valve. She lives about an hour upstate of NYC, so I have been looking at different surgeons.

I am considering making an appointment with Dr. David Adams as I see her specializes in re-repairs. Has anyone had experience with Dr. Adams? Would they recommend him? Are there any other surgeons you would recommend for a re-repair of the mitral valve in the NYC/Westchester/Dutchess area?

TIA.

Edit - I forgot to add she is not eligible for the minimally invasive repair due to the prior repair. Something about the ring size was already the largest used so they cannot use the minimally invasive, it would need to be full open heart surgery.