Open Letter to the Associated Press

RE: Heart Condition Killed Marathon Runner

October 9, 2007

Dear AP,

Those of us with Mitral Valve Prolapse (MVP) have a love/hate relationship with medical examiners who routinely list our condition as the cause of death on autopsy reports. We also have a love/hate relationship with reporters who give this information to the public. We love it because it has the potential to raise awareness of our condition, but we hate it because it is not based on fact. This misinformation spread to the naive public has the potential to cause a panic -- especially amongst those newly diagnosed.

An autopsy finding of MVP and then the listing of that as the cause of death is like finding a hangnail during the autopsy and blaming the death on that. Unless that hangnail is grossly infected and is otherwise abnormal, it did not cause death; neither does run-of-the-mill MVP.

MVP is a benign condition, affecting approximately 10 percent of the world's population. It is defined as a structural defect in the heart that is not life-threatening and usually causes no symptoms. We are told from the moment of diagnosis that we are no more likely to die than those who do not have MVP. For some reason though, at the moment of death all bets are off and medical examiners routinely list our condition as the cause. I would venture a guess that this is because most families will not take "no known cause of death" lightly, so if there is an easy fall-back, MVP comes to their rescue.

A diagnosis of MVP is not a death sentence, nor does it need to affect your daily life. With proper care, someone with MVP can lead a productive, healthy, fulfilling and long life; without proper care, there is a risk of life-threatening complications. This makes early diagnosis important, which is why we welcome any opportunity to have MVP listed in the lime light so that more people are made aware of it.

So thank you for this article by Ms. Rousseau, but please do some more research next time before starting a possible panic amongst millions of people with this condition. You could possibly be one of them and not even know it.

Sincerely,
Lorelei J. Logsdon

Problems sleeping

Every time I read an article on getting a good night's sleep, I'm usually disappointed. They usually all say the same thing, and anyone with problems getting a good night's sleep has already read that info a long time ago. I'm talking about the "tips" of (1) cut down on caffeine, (2) stop smoking, (3) cut down on drinking, (4) be more active, and (5) maintain a regular sleep schedule. These are all common sense, and are old and worn-out suggestions.

I think one of the problems with giving advice about sleeping better is that everyone requires something different when it comes to sleep. Personally, my eyes start to droop the minute the sun goes down; my husband can easily stay up all night long. There is no way I can take a nap in the middle of the day because if the sun is up, then my eyes are open; my husband gets sleepy when the sun comes up and can easily take a nap during the day (or sleep all day). When I sleep, it has to be completely pitch-black; my husband can be quite happy to sleep outside directly in the sun.

Common sense would say we should go with our own internal clocks, but unfortunately it's not as easy as that since most of the working world works during daylight hours. Sorry hubby, you're screwed -- no more sleeping all day long! I would love to go climb into bed at 7pm or so when the sun goes down, but then I have no family life -- or life at all.

Another huge difference between us is noise. If there is any, I can't sleep. I think it's an evolutionary hold-over from giving birth: if there's noise, there's potential that your young are in danger! Wake up! Stupid evolution. White noise makes me nervous because I can't hear what's really going on. This stress keeps me awake, or puts me into a restless sleep. My husband could sleep through a nuclear disaster.

Anyway, so I did some searching on problems sleeping and I still cannot really find anything useful. What is your trick for falling asleep and staying asleep?