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Heart Disease (Expert Forum)
I am worried about a diagnosis... dont know what to believe
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I am worried about a diagnosis... dont know what to believe
by Michael__0__0, Nov 07, 1998 12:00AM
I am a male now 23 y old. I was very active during my childhood and teenage years but during a race (1000m) one time when i was 15 I collapsed towards the end. I went to couple of doctors to determine the reasons for the collapse and ended up at a cardiologist who told me that i had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and that i should restrict my exercise so that i do not make it worst. After that I went to another much more famous cardiologist for an echo and the scanning of the heart (on tv) equipment the original cardiologist did not have. This second cardiologist told me that it was nothing to worry about i should not restrict my exercise at all
and that the fact that the heart was slighly larger than usual was because
I was so active. However, he said that i should go back and see him at age 19. I did and the answer was the same. "No problem you dont have to come again."
Now I sometimes i have some pain in the chest but i was told by a doctor that it is my intestines and irregular bowel movements (spastic colitis) that cause little pains here and there. I want to get back to hard exercise for a healthier life but i always think of the original cardiologist and wonder whether he was right with his diagnosis and exercise actually deteriorates rather than improve my health.
What should I do?
Doctor's Answer
by CCF CARDIO MD APS, Nov 07, 1998 12:00AM
_
Dear Michael,
Current understanding is that very active people do have slightly enlarged hearts, i.e. the athlete's heart is different than the non-athletes'heart.
In the days prior to our understanding this, it was all a cardiologist could do to recommend decreased activity (no competitive sports), but now that our
understanding is so much better(our understanding of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy has been tremendous in the past 10 years alone)
AND our imaging modalities are vastly greater, I think you need to have faith in the recommendations of your most recent physicians opinion, especially because exercise KEEPS THE HEART HEALTHY!
Some ideas to calm your fears are #1: get a second opinion from a cardiologist that specializes in hypertrophic cardiomopathy (Dr. Lever at the Cleveland Clinic), and or
#2: get an echo stress test where you are pushed literally to the max on the treadmill and all the while your heart is being echoed to reassess for signs of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy or any abnormality with the increased heart rate and blood pressure that
normally accompany exercise.
I hope this information has been helpful. Write again if you have any further questions.
Information provided in the heart forum is intended for general medical informational purposes only, actual diagnosis and treatment can only be made by your physician(s).
