Living Well with Mitral Valve Prolapse Syndrome / Ultra-Sensitive People

[Guest guest]

Living Well with Mitral Valve Prolapse Syndrome / Ultra-Sensitive People

Copyright © 1998 by Easterbrooks

Mitral Valve Prolapse (MVP), is present in ten per cent of the population.

It is said to be the most common cardiac variation and women have it more

than men. Of that 10%, one quarter have mild to severe symptoms.

The mitral valve and the autonomic nervous system are formed simultaneously

in the unborn infant. When there is a slight variation in this heart valve,

it can be reflected as a slight variation in the functioning of the

autonomic nervous system. Usually the syndrome is activated after one or

more major crises take place; that is how mine was uncovered. Most often

there is no logical connection between the crisis and activation of the

symptoms. Although the MVP and heart look as if they should get the primary

attention, it is actually the autonomic nervous system that needs to be the

focus of any healing work.

The basis for the physical description of the MVP and the list of symptoms

comes from the work of Lyn Frederickson M.S.N., author of " Confronting

Mitral Valve Prolapse Syndrome, " published in 1988. It is a combination of

her medical description and my eight year exploration with this syndrome

that are the basis for this article.

The mitral valve is located between the left ventricle and left atrium in

the heart. When the lower part of the heart contracts, the mitral valve

(without a prolapse) remains firm and prevents blood from leaking back into

the upper chambers. When the valve is prolapsed, there is slight variation

in the shape of the valve that allows one part of the valve to billow back

into the upper chamber during contraction of the left ventricle. This

protrusion can often be heard through a stethoscope, and the sound is known

as a " click. " There may also be a slight, leak of the valve during the

contraction of the ventricle, which may also be heard as a soft murmur. The

variation in the shape of the valve is a condition that is hereditary and

may appear in various members of a family. It can feel life threatening but

it isn't. It can be life-style threatening. Here is a list of some of the

common symptoms of this syndrome:

Fatigue and low exercise tolerance

Chest pain, aches, or tightness

Palpitations or irregular heartbeat, including missing beats

Migraine headaches

Panic or anxiety attacks

Depression

Shortness of breath

Heightened awareness of heartbeats

Fluttering feeling in the chest

Difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep

Acid indigestion

Feeling hot or cold not related to external temperature

Dizziness, shakiness, jitters or fainting spells

Excessive perspiration or inability to perspire

Trouble with eyes or visual disturbances

Allergies

Memory problems

If you experience any of these symptoms, it is best to get them checked out

professionally first. Usually nothing is found to be wrong. For example,

chest pain and shortness of breath are not the result of a heart attack.

People are often comforted to learn that their symptoms are related to an

imbalance in their nervous system and not a life-threatening condition. You

may have to keep reminding yourself that there is nothing wrong with you

other than what you already know. So it will challenge and teach you, but it

will not kill you. The challenge is from the symptoms that arise and how

they affect your physical, emotional, and mental states -- your style of

living.

I would like to share with you what some of my days used to feel like and

still can, and what I have done to help deal with this syndrome. Let's speak

first about the general environment that this condition helps to create. MVP

syndrome people have extremely sensitive nervous systems. If there is also a

heightened emotional sensitivity, we probably feel almost everything that is

going on in and around us, no matter how strong our boundaries are. The

challenge here is that without any training in how to use this heightened

awareness, we usually don't have a framework for interpreting what our

sensors are picking up. In personal relationships the question then becomes

who is feeling what. If the other person does not have the ability or

interest to investigate what is happening on a deeper level, we can be left

with a lot of unanswered questions. Or if we are feeling what is going on in

them and they don't want to look at it, they might project it back onto us.

If we don't trust our own experience and stand our ground, this can be a

crazy-making experience. We also tend to be somatically focused, which means

excessively focused on our bodily process. I have these types of

sensitivities and I am continually learning how to integrate them into my

life in healthy ways.

On the physical plane, I didn't have the ongoing fatigue problem. My loss of

energy came in episodes. Some days I had lots of energy and then for no

understandable reason my energy would disappear. It felt like someone had

pulled the plug on my energy tank and it all drained out. The same kind of

on-and-off episodes would happen with my heart rhythms. When I would have

irregular beats they would come in several forms. Extra beats, were easier

to tolerate, and missing beats, were more difficult to tolerate. The missing

beat(s) would trigger the question " Will it start again? " or " Is there

something I wrong with me? " . When these types of rhythms would occurred, I

would become very disorientated and stressed. Panic attacks, whose symptoms

resemble a heart attack, could come at any time. They would grab hold of me

and the ride would begin. At the time I was in panic, I actually believed

that I was going to die. It was not logical and it had nothing to do with

whether I had a fear of death. It is a very primal set of sensations. Add to

this a disruptive sleep pattern where I would wake up every two to three

hours, often with worry and anxiety. Now throw in a couple more panic

attacks, the stress would build and then maybe off to the emergency room to

be checked out for a heart attack, only to find that there was nothing wrong

with me. When I was having these symptoms, my life felt crazy. For several

years I wasn't sure what was happening. I was able to perform most of my

work responsibilities but my personal relationships all suffered. I would

have done anything to stop the symptoms but I couldn't pinpoint anything

that activated them. I started staying home a lot, looking for any person,

place, or thing to help me feel safe. I was living out of the energy of

desperation.

Luckily I found some caring support practitioners who helped keep me moving

towards balance. They were also loving enough to handle a constant question

I had: " Is there something wrong with me? " . Another added awareness that

came with the package: I could feel fluids releasing in my brain during

certain types of emotional responses to what was going on in my environment.

Is there support available? They are many avenues to check out; most that I

have found have been in the non-allopathic healing community. The allopathic

system has some great tests that can offer reassurance that nothing else is

going on, but what they have to offer in the remedy mode is, as I see it,

limited at best. There is not enough room in this article to cover all that

I have tried. Some of the helpful things that have worked for me include

seeking professional support -- getting lots of exercise -- drinking lots of

water -- avoiding alcohol, caffeine, and sugar. Whatever calms your nervous

system is helpful; what ever doesn't is not. The best help I have found for

me in regards to panic attacks is aconite 30c, a homeopathic remedy. Get

some training on how to deal with your heightened sensitivities. There is

much more to the process of creating a lifestyle that supports the healthy

and full expression of your life force energy than focusing only on the

physical. The syndrome work has to be done on the physical, emotional, and

mental levels. So build yourself a good support team. naturopathy,

acupuncture, homeopathy, developmental movement, and/or a therapist, one who

has emotional release work and somatic (body) awareness as part of their

skills.

The most important thing to remember is that this condition can be a great

teacher and not something that has to limit your ability to experience full

aliveness.

My one word of caution -- don't rely on your intimate relationships to

supply all the support you may need. People in this situation can experience

having lots of needs, especially to be reassured that everything will be

okay. It is powerful when an intimate partner or friend chooses to hang out

with you in this extremely sensitive exploration of interpersonal relating.

But you may find that some of your community cannot tolerate what you are

feeling because of what it triggers in them. This is when the business of

projection may start to come, as I mentioned earlier. If this happens, seek

someone outside of the relationship to assist you in sorting out what is

going on, especially if you are prone to taking on the projections as true

statements of who you are. Believe it or not, you probable have a clearer

picture of what is happening than you think. I have been the full route with

this event, danced it many ways. If you are in this situation, I know what

it is like and I have compassion for you and confidence in your ability to

navigate the challenges that lie ahead.

If you have MVP or know someone who does, check out the

Mitral Valve Prolapse Research and Support Site

Stories, books and other resources, message boards, and other forms of

support. For more information on MVP, check out the Mitral Valve Prolapse

site at http://www.mitralvalveprolapse.com