(no subject)
Mitral valve prolapse.
Hella stupid. My doctor looked at the results and said "It's just mitral valve prolapse and med student hypochondria." I replied "If I die anytime soon I'm gonna haunt your vacation home." Cardiologists are the worst. Doctors are basically just people who get 12 other people to do their jobs for them, I should know. But on top of that cardiologists are mama's boys who like to play god.
I've been looking into it and this disease is really interesting because though it's wholly somatic in origin, it ends up having a huge effect on moods. From wiki:
Signs and symptoms
Some patients with MVP experience heart palpitations, atrial fibrillation, or syncope, though the prevalence of these symptoms does not differ significantly from the general population. Between 11 and 15% of patients experience moderate chest pain and shortness of breath. These symptoms are most likely not caused directly by the prolapsing mitral valve, but rather by the mitral regurgitation that often results from prolapse. In addition, the American Heart Association has linked anxiety and panic attack disorders to mitral valve prolapse.[citation needed] A correlation has been reported between bipolar disorder and mitral valve prolapse.[13]
I would love to do a study on this someday. Just give personality assessments to people with heart diseases. People used to think that the heart was the seat of volition, thought, and soul, and that the brain was just this dumb cluster of ganglia that would process visual input from the eyes before passing it on to the heart. "Psyche" literally means "blood and breath." Etc. etc. etc.
Hella stupid. My doctor looked at the results and said "It's just mitral valve prolapse and med student hypochondria." I replied "If I die anytime soon I'm gonna haunt your vacation home." Cardiologists are the worst. Doctors are basically just people who get 12 other people to do their jobs for them, I should know. But on top of that cardiologists are mama's boys who like to play god.
I've been looking into it and this disease is really interesting because though it's wholly somatic in origin, it ends up having a huge effect on moods. From wiki:
Signs and symptoms
Some patients with MVP experience heart palpitations, atrial fibrillation, or syncope, though the prevalence of these symptoms does not differ significantly from the general population. Between 11 and 15% of patients experience moderate chest pain and shortness of breath. These symptoms are most likely not caused directly by the prolapsing mitral valve, but rather by the mitral regurgitation that often results from prolapse. In addition, the American Heart Association has linked anxiety and panic attack disorders to mitral valve prolapse.[citation needed] A correlation has been reported between bipolar disorder and mitral valve prolapse.[13]
I would love to do a study on this someday. Just give personality assessments to people with heart diseases. People used to think that the heart was the seat of volition, thought, and soul, and that the brain was just this dumb cluster of ganglia that would process visual input from the eyes before passing it on to the heart. "Psyche" literally means "blood and breath." Etc. etc. etc.