My wife recently was told after an echo that the left side of her heart was only pumping at 20%. Having a CT scan done in a couple days. She's 64 and a non smoker. Came on all of a sudden. Can someone explain.
View 1 RepliesIs an enlarged heart classed as heart failure?
View 9 RepliesI have had a numb left leg for about 5 months now from my thigh down to my knee and it seems to be getting worse and going down to the rest of my left leg. I also have these weird scars that look red or bloody from the inside and there is 3 of them and they showed up out of nowhere overnight. My doctor has given me blood tests and MRI's and nothing has shown up abnormal.
View 1 RepliesOn or around 4/1-4/6 I started to feel intermittent left side abdominal bloating/discomfort- an inch or two below the ribcage- in between both my flank and the center of my abdomen. It felt very similar to the bloating I'd feel when I get a cold/flu- but only on the left side. The feeling was intermittent, came and went...maybe presented itself once or twice for about an hour or so each day. On 4/11-4/12 the feeling seemed to become more constant where the discomfort was present the entire day. Symptoms then went back to being intermittent, perhaps more often than when they first started but not lasting the entire day.
From 4/23-4/27 symptoms went back to being all day and the discomfort could be felt then I laid on my right side...feeling subsided if I slept on my left side (I sleep on either side at night.) It felt as if my left abdomen was a bit distended...although...very hard to tell if it was just anxiety making it feel that way- certainly wasn't a visible distension (my gf at least didn't feel or see anything different on the left side.)
And then like a magic trick symptoms completely disappeared on the night of 4/28 and are still gone.
Looking at pictures of where a spleen would be enlarged look an awful lot like where I was feeling discomfort. Though the one health field friend I asked said an enlarged spleen would present with other symptoms and not resolve so fast and felt it was likely bloating/gas. The other puzzle piece is that I had absolutely no GI symptoms- all intake/excretions were highly normal, eating did not seem to affect the symptoms. And in general symptoms were milder in the morning and seemed to intensify a bit at night.
Only other background I have is that I work on political campaigns and was on an assignment that was ending, incredibly stressful and from January-end of March I was eating fast food for almost every meal.
Hoping/thinking this was just some intestinal/stomach discomfort due to high stress and terrible eating. Still confused on why the discomfort presented with absolutely no other symptoms.
My 19 yr old son was admitted to the hospital on Friday. His heart afib, His organs were failing as well. He was drinking very high caffeinated soda's as well as energy drinks daily allot of caffeine, Everyone told him to stop drinking so many. All he did was stay in his room playing video games or on the pc from 11 am til 5 am the next day. He ate well, rarely drank any water, then a month ago, he stopped eating, vomited anything he drank or ate. Then he started drinking a gal of water a day, or chewing on gum or candy. Was burping allot, then his heart was beating fast so we took him in. Now I'm told he has an enlarged heart. Where did this come from? He's the healthiest one in the family. He's had maybe three colds since birth. Could all the caffeine and other ingredients do this to him?
View 1 RepliesI'm 34 years old and I've been diagnosed with a swollen heart muscle. I've got a number of symptoms my GP believes are connected to the unknown underlying issue causing it (eg fluid in my lungs restricting my breathing, very low platelet count and heart palpitations). However, I'm on a 2-3 month waiting list for tests in the public hospital to determine the cause.
Does anyone know the main cause for a swollen/ enlarged heart muscle, and especially given my symptoms?
The Doctors have ruled out use of stimulants and blood pressure issues. They did mention the possibility of a diseased heart valve or perhaps a clogged artery.
what are the diseases that cause enlarged heart? and what can I do to help with this problem are I am doomed to die with it without notice? mine was inherited . my older brother has it and my son has it. just here lately found this out . I new about mine , but not of there's. I was told by a doctor twenty years ago after doing a stress test that the heart was slightly enlarged and he also said I had the heartbeat of an Athlete, meaning that when I worked out my heart would raise up and when I stopped it would fall back to normal beat quickly.
Tonight I went to the urgent care clinic because my asthma was really acting up, doctor thought it may be pneumonia, so he had my chest x-rayed. They found that I don't have pneumonia, but they did notice that my heart was enlarged. I now have an appointment with my regular doctor on Tuesday who will probably send me to a cardiologist for tests. I am 28 years old, trying to lose weight, and I am afraid I am going to die young. I can't shake the anxiety off. I am freaked out that doing any slight exercise is going to send me into cardiac arrest. I didn't mention the findings to my husband because I don't want him to be worried if it is nothing. I am just really scared and I don't know what to do or what to expect.
View 3 RepliesI just had surgery on Thursday and I needed to get a refill of my pain meds from my GP. While I was on the phone with her I asked her what my most recent chest X-ray showed, she said my lungs were fine but it showed a slight enlarged heart. She would not discuss it with me so needless to say I'm scared I'm going to die. I have been trying to lose weight and have gone from a size 22 to a size 14/16 which is still not good enough. they sent me a letter to say that my blood pressure was up and that my last GP had diagnosed me with stage 1 hypertension.
So now I'm scared I'm going to need a heart transplant since Google said that people with enlarged hearts sometimes need transplants and surgery. I eat right and try my best to exercise and do the right thing, all my blood work is good and I don't have raised cholesterol. Can this be from my recent two month plus cardio training? Is my heat enlarging from that? I also lost over 14 1/2 lbs and have changed over to a Paelo diet. What else can I do?? I don't want it die at 42 from a heart problem
I had a ecg and they've referred me for an echogram because they think although the ecg said normal they think I could have an enlarged heart and I'm literally so scared. Can you live with an enlarged heart? I heard that it causes cardiac arrests I'm literally so scared I'm gonna have a cardiac arrest any second
View 8 RepliesJust seen my results from my ultrasound and it said my baby heart is enlarged. What does that mean? I'm really worried...has anyone else had this problem?
View 8 RepliesI'm 16 years old and I have just now started to notice my heart beating differently, like when you're heart feels like it skips a beat but it is happening like 5 minutes or so. Also my chest has felt tight and I have been wheezing when I am running which hasn't happened before.
View 1 RepliesI went to urgent care for chest pains I was having the night before. The doctor did an EKG, blood test, and chest X-ray. He went over all the results and said everything was okay. He went over the chest x ray and said my heart was a little bit above average size and said it was no big deal. But I went home and looked that up and it seems like a pretty big deal. Now I can't stop stressing about it and my anxiety has been awful all night and day.
View 4 RepliesI have had heart problems for 18 months now, i haven't been diagnosed with a specific cause yet but the cardiologist is looking at Myocarditis or Heart failure. My symptoms are worse so i went the docs and he had a xray done the results said i had an enlarged heart so he now wants me to have a echo again to see what is happening. I cant seem to find much about enlarged hearts and the mortality .
View 15 RepliesMy 40 year-old wife in recent months has undergone a number of tests following some weight loss. It transpires that she is suffering from hypertension with her 24hr ambulatory readings averaging at 170/110. Further diagnostic tests (ECG, echo and cardiac MRI) were undertaken and her cardiologist told her that her heart is enlarged (moderate) with impaired function (I believe ejection fraction in the region of 45%) but has not been able to identify the root cause of the hypertension. She is asymptomatic and does not have any issues in terms of fatigue, breathlessness, swelling, etc.
She has been prescribed 5mg Amlodipine, 5mg Ramipril and 2.5mg Bisoprolol. The Cardiologist has told her she will be on medication for longevity and that improving the condition will take a long time. Her blood pressure has already come down to 132/84 which the cardiologist was very pleased with. She will be seeing him again in 8/9 weeks with a follow up echo in 4/5 months.
In terms of the diagnosis, the cardiologist has referred only to hypertension but having read and aligned the symptoms of the enlarged heart and impaired function, is it not heart failure.....? Also, what is the prognosis for an enlarged heart caused by hypertension, especially in someone of 40 years of age.....can the enlarged heart and function return to normal over time with the medication?
I have a relative who has been diagnosed with an enlarged heart. My father died of an enlarged heart 25 years ago. so its in the family.
I am an engineer so I can understand a simple explanation that if your heart gets bigger but the muscle doesn't get stronger then the pressure it can pump falls away and you have a problem of insufficient blood flow and low blood pressure. Drugs that make the heart work harder are only going to wear the muscles out faster unless you can make them grow so they are again in the right proportion to the heart size.
One drastic solution I heard of is that instead of making the muscles grow or just work harder we make the pump back to its old efficiency. Heart too Big? Then just make it smaller. The idea is that the surgeon just cuts a wedge out of the muscle and sews the remaining heart back together. It all then heals and you have as good as new, I can't imagine what you do while it heals but I am only an engineer and I expect the heart experts to have such issues covered. After all swapping a heart out is now routine.
I was told by my GP yesterday that I may have Heart Failure due to the results from my xray showing I have a enlarged heart. She sent me today to have a load of blood tests one being the BNP,NT-pro. I am really scared as my sister died of a heart attack last November without warning. But I am really annoyed has she had the results from the x ray since the 1/4/15 and I only could find out on the 16/4/15..Has anybody found out this way before and what is the prognosis I get everyone is different. But in general.
View 18 RepliesMy fast heart rate (sinus tachycardia) started when i was about 17-18. I was a healthy active kid up until i got dropped from high school and i isolated myself from everyone except family and literally sat in a room playing video games all day everyday. Didnt eat much, not alot of water... I was sabotaging myself and i didnt even know it. I honestly was depressed. Then came pots. My heart was plummeting to around 100-300 bpm just from walking or attempting to walk. I felt really desperate and i bet the cause of my symptoms were lack of certain nutrients, magnesium, potassium... Etc. I went to a cardiologist, got a full workup and my heart looked 100 percent perfectly normal. I then tried beta blockers (big mistake) Metoprolol was not bad, but it gave me sharp chest pains so i got off it. Could it be that these sharp chest pains were caused by lack of potassium or magnesium while taking beta blockers, which was my heart telling me this is a mistake? Long story short... I was enormously uninformed on the effects of not getting enough magnesium, potassium, etc for the heart. I would have never tried meds. The cardiologists i went to didn't even acknowledge that or test me for low levels. I didnt have a pcp at the time. Its almost 1 year later and im still in the same boat. But now, my heart does not beat the same. Compared to before, it feels as if my heart has a much more forceful and stronger pump. Which would indicate a enlarged heart, or possibly heart block? Growing up i had absolutely no awareness of my heartbeat... Even when i use to exercise. That feeling feels so distant now because it feels like im getting 24/7 palpitations. I could feel my heart all the time and i now have high blood pressure, and i didn't have this before. Will my heart ever be the same again? It feels as if i completely sabotaged my heart and precipitated heart problems that i didn't have.
View 5 RepliesHeart: NM Myocardial Perfusion Rest Stress Test results?
Findings: Mild Wall hypokinesis perfusion defects are identified in lateral wall, inferior wall and septal wall the calculated left ventricular ejection fraction of 51%
What does this mean normal not to worry or exactly what?
Have irregular heart beat and palpitations for 15 years that I know of..
They think I had a svt attack about 3 weeks ago prompting this test. My heart rate shot over 20 bmp and i could not breath and stayed above 160 for over an hour.
help! i have anxiety problem but recently i feel normal again until today i felt my left hand feel numb and it makes me scared whether it is heart attack. however i have exactly the same experience with this last week and i have done ecg and it turned out okay. i also have done ecg many times and every times it shows okay. but im still scare and feels worried. is it normal for anxiety patient or not?
View 1 RepliesAbout a week and a half ago I woke up to my left eye completely swollen shut. Doctor gave me antihistamine and antibiotic to cover allergic reaction and infection. Swelling significantly went down but never 100%. Eyelid still throbbing on occasion and throbbing to side of eye and in corner. Swelling has moved to side of face and under chin. Had cat scan and ultrasound and nothing abnormal but everyone notices the swelling except my doctor down plays it. Something is going and I'm super frustrated with what it could be.
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