dropping ejection fraction

Hi everyone,does anyone else here have heart failure due to chemotherapy?(adriamycin)

my ejection fraction has dropped recently even though I felt quite okay,could this be caused by too much exercise,too little rest or is it something that I have no control over?

also how low can the ejection fraction get before the heart is no longer able to support the other organs,liver ,kidney etc

[jrbon]

I have low EF but due to infarct.

In different Forum I have found people with as little of 8-10%.

As far as I understand the body is very wise and somehow, under restriction of circulating blood, it is able to start reducing flow in an ordered manner... more or less in this order: skin,muscles, stomach, intestines, kidneys, liver, heart, brain.
For kidneys the main issue is low blood pressure.

The most common complication, before getting at those levels are tiredness and fluid retention with respiratory problems.

The reasons for reduction in EF are many times unknown, but lack of sleep, below 7 hours/day has been proved to produce problems in the circulatory system.

Jesus

[kenkeith]

The EF below 29% is considered heart failure range by some insurance companies.  Sometimes individuals that have no other health issues can do well as the system compensates. My EF has been in the teens when I was admitted to ICU, and was shocked to hear I had had a silent heart attack...I had no symptoms until there was heart failure.  From what I have read, there are many individuals with an EF in the 20's and don't know they have a heart condtion and go about their daily activities...there may be a correlation to sudden death from a heart attack?!.

My condition was due to ischemia (occluded vessels reduced blood supply to heart cells), and according to what you posted you have damaged heart cells due to chemotherapeutic medications, the injury may cause a disturbance in the heart's pumping action, and subsequent heart failure.

Your drop in EF is due to heart muscle damage that reduces the left venticle's contractility. If and when the doctor provides advice, you may want to get into an aerobic exercise that can strengthen your heart's pumping ability.

Sorry to hear of the damaged caused by medical treatment. If your heart damage is due to amyloidosis, you should be seeing an oncologist and a cardiologist who work together, to coordinate your care.

Thanks for sharing, and if you have any further questions or comments you are welcome to respond.  Take care and I wish you well going forward.

Ken

[ssophy]

thanks for taking the time to reply,that is helpful to know I will try to rest and take more care

[ed34]

I very much doubt if your EF would lower through chemotherapy. These medications work by damaging cells in the body, but far more so the fast multiplying ones. Because they are not given enough time to repair themselves, and are fast reproducing, cancer cells are hit the hardest. As our hearts mature from birth, the muscle cells lose the ability to reproduce, a gene appears to be switched off. Heart muscle cells tend to grow in size rather than number.
It is interesting that research is being carried out to try and establish which gene is responsible and reverse the process, leading to new treatments for problems such as cardiomyopathy.
Chemotherapy drugs tend to have a different problem in some patients regarding the heart, they can affect the rhythm, causing such things as atrial fibrillation.