About Cardiomyopathy

I am a 35 year old male who has had MVP all my life, and was diagnosed with CM and Mitral Valve regurgitation last summer. I had an ICD implanted in October for VT, then had an ablation done just before New Years. The meds were helping, but after the ablation my heart rhythm is *much* more regular. I had been having lots of skipped beats/PVC’s which were causing my VT’s.

As far as the CM, I have never had any CM or HF symptoms. I was jogging 1-1/2 miles a couple days a week and all normal activities. What made me go to the cardiologist was dizzy spells and a syncope, which led to the VT diagnosis. I feel very good other than the side effects of my medications. I am currently taking Lisinopril and Coreg. I had an echo and a chest CT done in February, before I had a discectomy surgery on my back, which showed nothing unusual other than my MVP and some irregular beats, which was assumed
to be due to the MVP. The same cardiologist who made the later CM determination was the one who cleared me for the back surgery. Since my dilation and VT’s seemed to come on so fast, I am hopeful that the PVCs/VT was the cause of the DCM and that it could recover on it’s own, since I have no symptoms and am young and in otherwise good shape.

My EF varies from 35% by cath (original diagnosis last summer) to 40-45% by an echo and 50-57% by an MRI in October just before getting my ICD. The MRI said my left ventricle was “dilated at 6-cm”, and my mitral regurgitation was “+2″. I saw the cardiologist on Thursday, and he describes me as having ‘moderate’ CM and ‘moderate’ regurgitation. He said my heart was responding very well to medication, and that he could no
longer hear my murmur or regurgitation, which sounds excellent to me. He wants to see me back in 6
months for another echo, and annually thereafter. Is a yearly echo good practice for DCM patients, or should it be more often?

What has my wife and I worried is the uncertainty about the future. Some of the things we have been finding out about DCM are disturbing, but there seem to be some people who have had great recoveries as well. My cardiologist said that I could stay the same for years, the DCM could reverse, or it could degrade. He said there is just ‘not enough data’ for someone my age with DCM to make a prediction. I understand that this is
serious and I have been working on eating healthier, have lost some weight and am exercising. Of course we have to be prepared for the possibility of the worst as well.

I have been having some left side chest pain also. I was hooked up to a King of Hearts moniter and they found that when I was having the pain I was having a very fast pulse/A-fib. I am taking a new medicine for it and it seems to be helping. I would mention it to your doctor ( as everyone else has mentioned). I hope it goes away soon!
On another note…. Does anyone know of a good cold medicine that we can take. I feel horrible!

I hear that some DCM comes with chest pain, can someone tell me how that kind of pain would feel, I have no blockages of any kind and im 1 year into DCM with ICD and ef of 15% last nite I had kind of a burning turn to
heavy pain in chest, rolled over onto my back it went away just that fast, nothing in arms neck jaw so on, if i even have a hang nail on chest again im calling 911 but leaning tword a cramp please help me out here, tell me about your pains?

My husband got his ICD yesterday and seems to be doing well. Typical soreness in his left shoulder, but the pain medication is helping a lot.

While we were in the hospital, he was hooked up to a monitor and periodically it would flash messages like “Multiform PVC’s” “Run PVC’s” and “Pair PVC’s”. I meant to ask his EP, but forgot. The hospital staff never said anything about the messages, so I’m assuming that it was critical or they would have done something. I tried researching those phrases on the internet without much success. Does anyone know what those phrases mean?

had a Cardiac Resynchronization device with a defibrillator put in Sept. 2004. I previously had a regular pacemaker that was implanted Feb. 2003 due to Bradycardia.

I am pretty sure that the original pacemaker was programmed incorrectly and caused my CHF. I am lucky to be alive as I went in the hospital in July 2004 with 12% EF, 2000+ BNP, failing kidneys and fluid in my lungs.
I can’t and probably won’t ever be able to prove this however.

What makes you think your pacemaker caused your CHF?