Test Yourself

If you suffer from shortness of breath, difficulty climbing the stairs and a fast heart rate, you might be suffering from mitral regurgitation. In other words, a disease of the mitral valve, one of the heart valves. We call this a 'leaky mitral valve'.

The symptoms of a leaking mitral heart valve depend on how far the disorder has progressed. In many cases, a leaking mitral heart valve causes only slight or no symptoms at all. In the case of severe mitral insufficiency consider the following symptoms:

• Shortness of breath, particularly after exertion or when lying down
• A feeling of weakness and fatigue, mainly with increased activity (e.g. climbing stairs)
• Reduced appetite
• Drowsiness
• Brief loss of consciousness, your vision sometimes “goes black”
• Irritating cough, which becomes worse when lying down
• Heart palpitations, sensation of a rapid, fluttering heartbeat
• Fluid retention, swollen feet and ankles
• Having to urinate often at night
  
  

Do you suffer from one or more of the above symptoms? Test yourself in order to better understand your symptoms.

Test yourself