Heart promblems

My husband is 44 years old, and was just told he has a weak heart
they did all kinds of test, from a Ekg,tilt tablestudy which was postive,Mri of the heart,
electrocardiogram, his ejection fraction rate is 30. They found nothing to be blocked and
can't figure out why his heart is weak,They put inplanted a recorder in him but a week in a
half later had got a staff infection so they took it back out, His docotor has him on all kinds of meds.
but he was in the hospital 2 weeks ago with congestive heart failure and he was also back in a couple of days ago and they diagnos him with chest pain, hyperlipdemia,his chol-243 and his HDL-20
TG-590 total chol/hdl 12.2 unable to calculate LDL due to elevated TG, And i am really worried about this,CT scan small non-specific lung nodules bilaterally(largest 6mm) midly enlarged ap window and right hilar lymph nodes,It don't seem like the meds. are working can't understand why they don't put in a defibrillator. Heart promblems run in his family both parents passed from heart failure.

[Michael J. McWilliams, M.D.]

That is a good question.  The standard of care for a defibrillator and newly diagnosed non ischemic cardiomyopathy is to wait three on maximal medications.  The best approach I can think of is to ask your doctor directly -- call and leave a message and ask to have them call back.  They might be in the waiting period to determine if this is going to turn around or not or the device is indicated.

It also never hurts to ask for a second opinion if you are concerned that you are being taken care.  I am not saying that they aren't taking care of you, what I am saying is that sometimes two opinions are better than one.  If the both agree on the treatment, you know you are being treated well.

People with the condition you describe often end on many medications.  There are good studies showing the benefit of beta blockers, ace inhibitors, statins, triglyceride medications, etc.

I hope this helps.  Good luck and I hope you both feel better soon.

[sugarpea013]

I have no advice to offer, but wanted to give my sympathy. I'm so sorry you and your husband are going through this and I hope that they find answers soon.

Best wishes.