Michael's Posts

A cautionary tale about general practitioners. I have had wide pulse pressure for months. My systolic has been around 130 and my diastolic around 53. I pointed out the low diastolic to my GP a number of times. He said I was just getting old. I read about how low diastolic can lead to heart failure and insisted I see a cardiologist. My GP had an echocardiogram done to give the cardiologist something to look at. It is then that we discovered my severe aortic regurgitation. I learned from the cardiologist that wide pulse pressure such as I had points to aortic valve failure. In addition, aortic regurgitation can cause high systolic blood pressure as the heart has to work harder to pump the blood. So my aortic regurgitation may be causing all of my blood pressure problems! I learned some time ago that you have to be your own advocate in the medical system, especially fighting ageism - I am in my 70s. My advocacy has certainly paid off in this case. I just wish we had caught this earlier so I could've avoided months of unexplained and unresolved symptoms.