What caused this?

[onesillygirl]

My mom was diagnosed this week with CHF, out of the blue.  She has never had a day of heart problems in her life - no high bp, Nothing! Then on Sunday she felt congested.  We took her to the ER expecting, at worst, Pneumonia and come out with a diagnosis of CHF.  

The suspected causes were 1. A virus  2.  A blockage or 3.  Damage from chemotherapy 8 years ago.  The doctors were puzzled because they would have thought the chemo damage would have shown up a long time ago.  They ruled out a blockage by way of heart cath. yesterday.  If its a virus that caused it, is is possible that her CHF will go away?  Also, she has undiagnosed sleep apnea.  Could that have caused this?

[mclinda]

Hi,
I have CHF as well as cardimyopathy caused by chemotherapy and mantle field radiation for Lymphoma.  I had a massive heart attack due to radiational scarring in the LDA.  I don't think CHF will "go away" but it can be well controlled with meds.  Good Luck to your Mom.

Linda

[Cleveland Clinic]

It is unlikely that her cardiomyopathy will resolve entirely and her heart recover the function to a normal level. In many patients we never find out the cause of this disorder, but it is not really important from a treatment standpoint because the treatments are, with rare exclusions, the same: ace inhibitors, beta blockers, aspirin or coumadin and aldactone or eplerenone. Plus isordil and hydralazine if needed. But the good news is that many patients live comfortably and with little limitation in their daily lives with cardiomyopathy.

[onesillygirl]

My mom's chemo was for Non-Hodgekins Lymphoma.  She had two rounds 3 years apart.  The last resulted in a stem cell transplant that left her cancer free.  If I had a choice between that and this, I'll take the CHF.  I just feel like she's already been through so much.  She deserves a break!