alcohol and cardiomyopathy

[ericzero]

An echo three weeks ago revealed a lack of  pumping action in a part of the posterior wall of the lv, with moderate to severe aortic regurgitatioin.I am just thirty five, male. Had rheumatic fever and chest pain in my early teens and received treatment although the chest pain continued. Was diagnosed with hbp in my early twenties. i currently weigh 92kg with a ht of 1.62m. Three weeks ago after a particularly salsty meal i had severe difficulty breathing, wasn't really a new experience so i took 1 tab of asprin and lied down.The next day i had severee frontal headache with pain bw the eyes for three days in a row, that was when i went to c my doctor. He said he didn't c anything wrong and decided to treat me for malaria. The headache stopped but the next day i experienced a loss of respiratory drive and later that night i woke up with a severe respiratory spasm, wasn't sure it was ashtma cos i get ashma from time to time and know how it feels, rather this felt like i was losing control of my lungs with a kind of shakiness inside my chest, but no chest pain. I panicked and fled to a substandard hospital nearyby (i have to mention that emergency medical facilities are non existent in my country (Nigeria) and if you have any med probs u are strickly on your own. The doctor at the clinic examined me and said my bp and heart was ok but he noticed some ashtma and decided to give me aminophyline IV. I tried to tell him that he should consider other options since i had heart issues that he was not aware of and i was not really panicky anymore after driving myself down to the clinic. He started injecting the IV and it was going in, seems he idn't get teh vein properly, i started feeling delirious and a burning thirst in my throught,became very weak and was about to lose  consciousness. I asked for water and drank some cups of water, i got some energy back and fled from he clinic, i couldn't drive again so i asked my wife to drive me down to another clinic, i explained everything to the doctor there and he gave me some piriton tabs sent me back home to sleep. The next morning I was ok but feeling weak so i decided to c my cardiologist who recommended the echo, xray and ecg. The echo revealed some damage to my heart (ischemic crdiomyopathy) with low ejection fraction 36.4, but high cardiac output, the ecg and xray were very normal. I don't know if those damages were new or old ones from the rheumatic heart dx and hbp.Althought I heard them say someting about further investigation for MI. It seems the echo ppl saw something in my heart cos they asked me if i was having probs sleeping i said yes but they didn't explain further. My cardiologist didn't say much either, just said tht the tests are essentially OK especially since my ecg and xray were normal. He said I should continue with my drugs, unknown to him I had stopped taking my atenolol 100mg, norvasc 5mg, i was only taking captopril and moduretic. i stoped takng the otehr ones when i started having probs sleeping at night, i will wake up an discover that my breathing has stopped, i will force myself to resume breathing with a great effort, one night i woke up like that and my heart was racing rapidly, i tot i was going to die so i quickly swallowed 200mg of atenolol and within  mins my heart slowed back to normal and i went to sleep. So my cardio said should resume taking all my drugs and he only added 600mg, i shud take it if the chest pain becomes unbearable, i shud try to avoid taking it if i can endure the pain because i have stomach  ulcer which was caused  by the long yrs of taking aspirin as part of my treatment for rheumatic fever and to prevent heart damage which obviously was not succesful. My cardio had suggested two yrs ago that i shud go to the uK and do a coronary angiogram (can't be done in nigeria) to c if i had coronary artery dx, but i didn't go cos that period i stopped smoking and drinking and the chest pain subsided. I think i shud also mention tht this chest pain is not related to exercise or activity at all, just a dull pain that i usually move about with, if i am very busy i don't notice it except wen i am idle or try to sleep. Alcohol relieves this pain, et i have been told to avoid  drinking. One or two bottles of beer stops the pain and i sleep like a baby, so i am confused, i've been asked to refrain from even moderate beer consumption and yet nothig else has been prescribed that takes care of the pain. Just last night after an intense sex with my wife (sex also helps me to sleep well) i noticed one or two sharp pain my heart, not lasting up to a second, i took a low dose asprin 7mg and slow acting nitrate, went back to bed but was feeling restless and chest pain especially if i lie on my left side (its not a new experience). I tried taking 2.mg of valium with piriton but after an hour i was still hopelessly awake with slight respiratory depression. I sneaked out, didn't want to wake my wife, drove down to the nearest club, had two cold bottles of beer and some cigs,two hours later i came back home slept like a baby woke up this mornig feeling fine and went to work. I think i shud mention that i am sensitive to a lot of things, like perfumes, deordorants etc some prescription tabs i take i react severly to them, but other ppl take them with no probs, that same drug i can buy another brand and i won't get any reaction. ALso i am scared of srangers and hate being in closed spaces especially with ppl i don't trust, and the list of ppl i odn't trust is endless, i have this feeling that ppl are conspiring to harm me. All this is beside the point, what should i do about my damaged heart, i still live a relatively normal life now although can't  work from 8am 8pm as i used to do, my work is just to sit with a computer, read mails and make recommenations, noting stressful. I want to try and add some exercise in my daily routine, i used to jog last yr but now i am scared since i learnt that my heart is damaged, and shud i continue using beer to induce sleep? or what drugs or treatment options is available for me to prolong my life. I don't know if anything can be done about the posterior wall of my left ventricle but i  would expect the aortic regurgitation to be treatable, but my cardio just said i shud continue my drugs and keep my bp low always, is he hiding something from me, is my case hopeless? I find myself beginning to accept  the idea of sudden death and will surely miss my two kids, 4 and 3. yrs old. Is there someting that can be done for me or is my case properly managed?

[neil_a]

re: "i get the point. d only way forward is 4 me to quit drinking and smoking; not even occasional like a bottle of beer once a wk or month."

Now that you have made this decision - By The Grace of God - hopefully you will go out and seek help and get as much as you can online.

Remember - this is a physiological thing as well as emotional.

Do your wife and children PROUD - and learn as much as you can - to help you - including extra important nutrition - to help repair your body.

You can always count on me - so long as I am alive........

To be your friend.

Neil

[ericzero]

thx man. i get the point. d only way forward is 4 me to quit drinking and smoking; not even occasional like a bottle of beer once a wk or month.

[neil_a]

Re:

"Alcohol relieves this pain, et i have been told to avoid  drinking. One or two bottles of beer stops the pain and i sleep like a baby, so i am confused, i've been asked to refrain from even moderate beer consumption and yet nothig else has been prescribed that takes care of the pain.

I sneaked out, didn't want to wake my wife, drove down to the nearest club, had two cold bottles of beer and some cigs,two hours later i came back home slept like a baby woke up this mornig feeling fine and went to work."

You said:

"et i have been told to avoid  drinking"

When Doctors advise you to "avoid drinking" - do you think that they say that - because they like to hear themselves talk.

You happen to be in complete denial about the effects of alcohol on you.

Here is what a friend of mine posted to a pubic forum.

Is this how you want to leave your wife and children - thinking about you?

"In the spring of '99 i quit my foul tempered, sedentary, alcoholic, 4 packs a day husband. In Feb. 2001 he died, poor guy, of complications of emphysema and diabetes. It is strong in me to blame myself for his death, as though i could have kept him from from drinking and smoking himself to death. The truth is i could not prevent him from doing any of the life-destroying things he did. Through the 17 years we were together I had tried everything, from sweet reason thru persuasion, bribery, and screaming shitfits, and nothing even slowed down his consumption of alcohol and tobacco. One day at a time, is the only thing that helped me in those times."

[ericzero]

of course i dont want to die but i read somewhere that mild alcohol can relieve symptoms of heart disease in some ppl. and it seems to work that way 4 me

[neil_a]

You said:

"I sneaked out, didn't want to wake my wife, drove down to the nearest club, had two cold bottles of beer and some cigs,two hours later i came back home slept like a baby woke up this mornig feeling fine and went to work."

**************************************
If you would like to die - as I am - from Alcoholic Cardiomyopathy - continue on with your lifestyle.

You can read more about my disability and alcoholic cardiomyopathy :

Alcholic Cardiomyopathy
http://www.myspace.com/corneliusahern
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=137680033&blogId=209376724

[ericzero]

1. what can i do to increase my ejection fraction. 2. An echo revealed that i have severe aortic regurgitation. Can this be an acute event since i only feel a strange discomfort in my chest when i lie on my left side. 3. why didnt these ailments show up on the ecg. could they be wrong

[gmachris518]

An EF of 36.4 isn't too bad, but I'm wondering if they have done any testing for heart attack enzymes when you are experiencing the pain.  If you're in the middle of a heart attack there will be markers in your blood.  JFYI...my EF is 15-20% and I get along pretty good, even though I also have stage 5 renal failure......the two are not linked.

Another thing I'm wondering is whether you have any swelling going on in your lower body, mostly from the stomach level down.

I have congestive heart failure, which comes with the swelling, pain in my back between my shoulders, and sometimes in my chest, neck and face.  When the swelling becomes profound, I also have extreme difficulty with breathing.  

I take 25 mg of Coreg 2 x a day, 90 mg of dialtiziem 3 times a day, and 120 mg of lasix each day and it seems to keep the swelling and pain under control, as well as allows me to breathe and even sleep lying down in bed, instead of upright in a chair.

Also, 600 mg of aspirin seems awfull high for someone with an ulcer.  At the ER where I live, they prescribed 320 mg only if I'm experiencing severe pain as I mentioned above....I've also had a bleeding ulcer, and was told not to take aspirin unless it was for life saving purposes, such as a heart attack.

I can not imagine living in a place where the ER is nonexistent.  I've been in the ER several times in the last 3 1/2 years with my heart and kidneys, and one time was life flighted by helicopter due to a heart attack.  I am grateful to be able to see a doctor in an ER setting.  It has never occurred to me how fortunate I am to live in a country where it's available.

In any event, if you have better medical facilities available a distance from where you live, I think it would be in your best interest to travel the distance and have yourself checked.

I hope the best for you.....

[ericzero]

dr added 600mg of aspirin to be taken when pain is unbearable. i am also surprised that moderate to severe aortic regurgitation and damaged posterior lv wall did not show up on the ecg.