Left ventricular hypertrophy?

[luvcu95]

Hi,

I am a healthy, 18 yr old female and I'm on the rowing team at my university.  For the past five months I have been experiencing chest tightness, dizziness, fatigue, fainting spells, and shortness of breath.  Initially I attributed this to my asthma, but I went to the doctor the other day just to be sure, and he did an EKG.  He said my EKG was abnormal, and that I showed signs of left ventricular hypertrophy, so he is referring me to a cardiologist and told me not to exercise in the meantime.  I was wondering, if I do have left ventricular hypertrophy, what could have caused this and how do I treat it?  Will I be able to row again this year?  How serious is this condition? Thanks!

[Lars100]

I just got Heart-Disease/Left-ventricular-hypertrophy/. What do I do?

[ed34]

Well my personal opinion is that you just have a natural athletes heart which is bound to be somewhat hypertrophic. All that aerobic exercise is going to make your heart more efficient by thickening the muscle. Your Cardiologist / Doctor should discuss your results with you and I'm pretty sure that's what the conclusion will be. Now the symptoms you described could be just a diet change requirement. You obviously burn a lot of energy and you need to ensure that energy is available.

[luvcu95]

I just got the results of my blood work and chest x-rays back and they were all normal. The chest x-ray didn't show any heart enlargement.  Even though the EKG was abnormal, is there a chance that I don't have athletes heart or hypertrophic cardiomyopathy?

[ed34]

If it turns out to be genetic, then I doubt if you will be able to row again. I think it's all about waiting for the firm diagnosis and cause.

[luvcu95]

Thanks for your input! I know it's not high blood pressure, since I have always had relatively low blood pressure - last time it was 97/55.  My doctor also already ruled out athletes heart. If it is a genetic disorder or faulty valve, will I ever be able to exercise/row again? I have already accepted I'll probably be out for the year, but rowing has become my life and I'm not ready to give it up forever!  I'm having an echo done Monday so hopefully I'll have more information then.

[ed34]

They need to establish if you have athletes heart or Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. This is difficult to distinguish and I'm guessing they will request you stop exercise activity for 3-6 months and repeat tests to see if your heart has started to return to normal. If it has, then this is athletes heart. Given your symptoms they may overlook the possibility of athletes heart and continue with further testing. There are a number of possible causes from high blood pressure, faulty valves or even genetic disorders. Until further testing is performed, it would be simple guess work as to what exactly is causing the problem.