My sister has a heart valve defect. Why did she have fits?

Question

Hello doctor,

My query is about my sister. She is 14 years old now. When she was seven years old, she suddenly started shaking and falling. She used to get unconscious and would recover after a few minutes. She used to have on-and-off episodes of fever twice a month.

But two to three times, she took Phenobarbitol 30 mg. So she has been fine for nine months. But when she stopped doing it after one month, the same reaction happened again. We went to the cardiologist, who diagnosed her with a hole in the valve, and they said she needed surgery.

Why does she experience all these symptoms? Does she have any issues in her head?

Kindly help.

Thank you.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I read your query and can understand your concern.

Regarding the symptoms of the fits, did you have any tests, such as an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) of the brain or an EEG (electroencephalogram)? What do cardiologists say about holes in the heart? Did she do echocardiography? If done, please send the reports to me so I can guide you further.

If not done, I advise you to have an echocardiogram and consult me or any cardiologist you prefer. For symptoms of the brain (fits), consult a neurologist. Regarding your question, is it only a heart problem, or is it another problem in the head? The answer is that there is a problem in the brain, not in the heart.

In rare cases, heart problems can also cause fits or convulsions, but when there are no other heart symptoms, the problem is in the brain.

I hope this helps.

Thank you and take care.