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Can you get Cured from Cardiomyopathy

Hi  i was recently told that  my Ecg is upnormal and i have Cardiomyopathy, i have no sysptoms my blood presure is normal , little  on the border lie 140/85  i am physicaly  fit, i take six times a day up and down of a 15 story building, four times  a week,  i saw cardiologist and he told ime it's primary cardiomyopthy and it's has do, me drinking a lot of beer a week like 24 to 30 bottles or may be under cative thyroid , so i have to cut down drinking  and the salt also. i don't do  any other things , no drugs, no smoking.
My Question  is Can i get Cured from it? if i cut down drinking a keep active ? the dr didn't gave me any medication just told me to see him in six month's.
Can i  slow it down or it's  gonna progress from here on ?  I am 53 yrs old an active .
Pls tell all the advice you can give

thanks
Hadi
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Avatar universal
I am glad to read your daughter doesn't worry about her heart, and I do understand you do, but you must care, learn, read all the information as available  as you do I think, and I 'see':)..And then DO NOT WORRY!
Even if they call it disease and we always will have Cardiomyopathy (and this is my understanding based on all I've been reading so far on different pages) it is not a death sentence , we can get HEALTHY and still have the disease .
I do not like the word: disease. I prefer condition, but maybe they are right to call it disease because that word represents more the fact that we always will have it as I learned from reading on many medical sites.
  
Only people who have alcoholic cardiomyopathy can be reversing it, I read that too.
…and that not so, I also read about people on forums from them, as they tell their story, just like I tell mine, mine is reversed…………but there is the big BUT…
  That is it temporarily?... That is a million dollar question….:)

I think your daughter is very young, and I would add, she is beautiful.  Her heart is younger, I am 57 was 53 when was DX....what I try to say..In my opinion it must have something to do with age, a young heart in most cases (not always!) might have more chances to get normal under the right treatment. One doctor told me jokingly ‘your heart like an old pillow not starching well anymore’...foils we can say, but true also....good news for me I was very active and my heart just like all of my muscles are more capable of get back to normal....but not quite normal....
   We better never take it for granted  when our numbers are up, but ‘stay with the plan’ that the best to our body and heart.
My best to her and you
V.
Helpful - 0
162069 tn?1224677411
hi there, i don't know if you have read my posts about my 22yr old daughter.  she was diagnosed with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy in march 05   EF at diagnosis was 32-35% and held until recently when it went up to 42% with the addition of digoxin.  i was interested in the part where you said that even if the numbers go up you still have cardiomyopathy.  it is not known as of yet if her cardiomyopathy is caused by very frequent pac's and svt's. all pac's come from left chamber and drs feel it is too risky to ablate on the left.   at the time of diagnosis they did not know the cause of cm, it has only been recently (since we switched to drs at univ of mich)   my whole goal since beginning this was to see her cured of this if possible.  could it be that she will always have cardiomyopathy even if we get her numbers up?   could the damage that may have already been caused not be reversed, makes me curious..    oh, one more thing...   you haven't seen echo pictures of your heart until you have had an echo with the new 3D echo machine.   absolutley impressive.   they brought the new machine down for amber after ablation at univ of mich, even got dr. armstrong, the nations leading expert in echocardiology to run it.   it was amazing the pics they got,  they were able to get slices of the mass at the mitral-aortic junction that no one had seen before, and now they can better figure out what to do.  thanks   dawn
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Avatar universal
You are very welcome Connie !
Yes I've fined it fascinating too. I use all my trick to get more out from the technician, he explained a little more about the colors last time.:)
It is not clear in my case what I did get my cardiomyopathy from.
I believe it is a combination of:
Family  history,
Long time untreated high blood pressure,
Stress (hbp even higher)
Tachycardia,
Might be a virus  

For me it started from a perfectly healthy state, after I was cleaning without mask a dirty, moldy 170 years old basement. I started to cough, right after, but it could of be a coincident ,because during the next few months I developed a pulmonary edema ,and was always coughing, when finally I went to the doctor ,by then was hard to breath and go upstairs………….

My cardio said we can not know why that happened in a short period of time and the most important thing is that how to treat it, not how I got it...later he said when I improved fast on medication it was probably a virus.

My family doctor said, in his opinion it was my untreated hbp....he also said if we would ask 4 cardiologists all 4 might have a different opinion.

In my family 3 person (nearest my father had heart failure)

I never was a drinker. Only was addict on coffee, that certainly didn’t help, it made things worst. I used to drink 3-6 strong coffee a day. After DX (4 years next month) I stopped drinking coffee.

Hope your next week recheck will go as well as your fathers did!
  
Good night to you too!

V.
Helpful - 0
21064 tn?1309308733
Thanks for the explanation!!  That was great!

In my own experience, I was diagnosed with CM when my EF dropped to 40%.  I'm not sure if my ventricle remodeled (I don't think so).  My CM developed because of too many pvcs, so once I had the ablations, my EF slowly climbed back up.  So far, it is still ok...going next week the recheck.

hahahaha.....No, it's not morbid to want to see your heart.  That would make both of us morbid and that can't be ; 0

My dad went for a stress test today and the doctor was showing him pictures of his heart!!  He thought that was pretty neat, me too.  His EF was about 24% and today the test came back at 42%.  The doctor doesn't think it is really that high, but nonetheless there has been improvement. The heart is so fascinating and so complicated.

Don't you just want them to tell you what they're looking at??  I'm just so fascinated by it all.  Have a great night and thanks again!!

connie
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Avatar universal
As I know, yes even with normal EF we have cardiomyopathy,  the EF can drop again, we are just well compensated on medication. Take the medication away, and see what can happen. Read the post from sami above......I am so not up to  any unnecessary pills, but I know I have to be on for the rest of my life, even if my EF normal now. I also have high blood pressure, but the choice of medication wont be a beta blocker, if it was only for the high blood pressure. I take 100 mg Metoprolol per day plus Altace and Lasix. Many people experience set back after reach the normal EF..so I just knock on wood.

Cardiomyopathy is a disease ,a weakness of the heart muscle, but just think about it even a weak muscle can work well if it is in a regular use. Same with the heart muscle. This is why I push myself and others:) to do more exercise. My theory proofs I am right. My EF is normal. But my LV still larger (but better then it was 4 years ago)....also my heart is enlarged........this is how they started me diagnosis: you have a large heart to begin with.........

but that is an other issue, not all enlarge heart called cardiomyopathy....the athletic heart, just become enlarged but still not called cardiomyopathy....not sure I can explain that well :)

...sometimes I wish to see my own heart under a microscope and see what it is really and where is the problem?...it might sound a little morbid. :)

…once when they did my echo, the technician said to the doctor “here see?...she said yes I see….I was never really explained what they were seeing , I was told something like that: well we all know your heart is not perfect . My EF was almost normal at that time.
Helpful - 0
21064 tn?1309308733
I'm curious...Is it possible to have a normal EF and have cardiomyopathy?  I thought that dialated CM was diagnosed because of a drop in EF.  Now, I'm wondering if you can have a normal EF and still have CM???  Your thoughts?
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Avatar universal
as Mamto said, and I would add: the percentage of blood that is pumped out of the heart during EACH BEAT. It’s also a measurement used by doctors to see how well your heart is functioning.If I understand well, your might be OK. But still would ask for the number.Over 55% is normal.

http://www.hearthelp.com/sca/ejection-fraction.html
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21064 tn?1309308733
EF refers to your heart's ejection fraction (the amount of blood pumped from the ventricle).  The % is usually reported on an echocardiogram report.
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Avatar universal
pls what is EF stand for? i know bp is blood pressure.
i had Echocardiogram ( Doppler) dr  told me the blood flow and valves are normal

thanks
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Avatar universal
Ahadi, I think you should be on Coreg and an Ace inhabitor, those would push down your bp , and that is your heart might need as others pointed it out....
Very important, what Maggie asked!:  what is your EF?  
Great idea to stop drinking!

But we are not a doctors...you can ask the doctor on that site. Click on: (top of that page)
  Heart Disease ,under the

Related Forums
Ask A Doctor Forums

Good luck !

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Avatar universal
yes i am gonna stop drinking,  my health is  far more important than any thing else.
I will  also seek a second openion because i have multiple health issues like  sleep apnea, Gout disease,thyroid and the blood pressure. I am o.k i have never felt dizzy or shorten of breath i do a regular excercise. but i want ask  you specialy the dr's , As right now do i need a medication for the blood pressure or the  cardiomyopathy?

thanks again
Ahadi
Helpful - 0
21064 tn?1309308733
Ditto on the others' comments.

I think I'd consider getting a second opinion (or returning to your own doctor).  I am under the impression that optimal BP is very important when treating cardiomyopathy.  While stopping the alcohol is first and foremost, personally, I think 6 months is too long between appointments.  I also don't understand why you have not prescribed a beta blocker and/or an ACE inhibitor.  Help me out current and past CM patients ------ aren't ACE and BB's pretty standard for diagnosed CM?  My doctor was QUICK to prescribe an ACE and wanted to include a BB, but I had a hard time tolerating both (too sluggish).
Helpful - 0
159619 tn?1707018272
COMMUNITY LEADER
I agree with everything that's been said. Your blood pressure is not normal, to be normal it needs to be UNDER 120/80. Your's is 140/85 which is clinically described as high blood pressure, not borderline. You need to get that down before you can reverse anything.

Good Luck!

Tony
Helpful - 0
61536 tn?1340698163
You have multiple risks.  Sleep apnea is hard on the heart.  The breathing machine will help reduce the strain.  Thyroid conditions can lead to cardiomyopathy.  Alcohol can definitely lead to cardiomyopathy.  Alcohol is toxic to the myocardium (heart muscle), especially in the amounts you are consuming.  If you don't stop, you're going to kill yourself.  If you do stop, there is a very very good chance your cardiomyopathy can reverse itself.  

I wish you good health.
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Avatar universal
Yes i had Echo  test and treadmill  stress test  and the Dr told all the valves are normal!
do i need medication for my blood pressure.? also  i have sleep apnea and i use machine at night to breath , do you  think this condtion increases the cardiomyopthy and also i have underactive thyroid and i take synthroid.  i will check with another dr for second openion
Helpful - 0
214864 tn?1229715239
Exact dittos for what Maggie has said!
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Avatar universal
I think that alcoholic cardiomyopathy can be cured IF the patient stops drinking altogether.  Cutting down will not work.  Alcohol destroys heart muscle.  Also, high blood pressure will make it worse, and yours probably is too high.  Maybe you need another doctor?  Have you had an echo, and what is your EF?
Helpful - 0
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