Enlarged left heart chamber

[Kellyb999]

Hi,

I am 25 year old lady and I have been having palpatations everyday for about 2-3 years now.
Two weeks ago and has a really sharp pain in my chest, I went clammy, felt dizzy and sick. I have never experienced anything like this. I have had chest pain everyday since.

I went to the doctors who ran some ECG's on me. I received the results yesterday and they said I have an enlarged left chamber of the heart. My blood pressure was also low.

I have tried to research this on the interne but can not really understand what it means.

I am not overweight, I don't drink or do drugs. But I do smoke , have been very stressed recently and my auntie had something similar and my mum has angina.

What could have caused this? What is the treatment? Is it serious?

The pain is getting worse and more frequent. My doctor is referring me for an ultrasound of the heart and to see a cariologist.

Any help would  be great

Thanks

[CynthiaMomma]

My father is on beta blockers and blood thinners and lasix and a few other medicines but i currently do not take any medicine. as i am further along in this pregnancy (which has to be my last) they will most likely put me on a type of lasix (which i had with my first pregnancy) to help reduce excess fluid that my body will retain and i may have to take them for a couple weeks after i have the baby but i do not take any regular medicine for it. i get some bad chest pains also but at this time i dont have to take any medication.. they really just do an echo any where from every 6mo. to a year to watch it.

[Kellyb999]

Thank you so much for your advice.
My doctor told me not to get stressed but it gets very difficult when you are told news like this!
I do plan on quitting smoking and also making other lifestyle changes.

Is this usually treated with tablets like beta blockers?

[CynthiaMomma]

Hi my name is Cynthia, im 22 and have a heart disease that may be what your doctor is referring to.. It is Called IHSS.. or at least that is one of the many names. it is a type of cardiomyopathy  that is indeed something to keep a eye on. some people go their entire lives without an issue  others can have very serious problems from this. I myself didnt know i had this genetic disease until i was pregnant with my daughter when i was 20. my husband and i just thought all the discomfort was regular pregnancy stuff until i was 6 1/2 months pregnant and placed in the cardiac icu due to the complications this heart disease caused especially with the pregnancy. we were advised to have no more children and my daughter was born 3 months early due to the problems. if this is the same disease which the most common names are IHSS, ASH (assymetric septal hypertrophy), HOCM, or HCM it can be very serious especially if you are having symptoms. It is pasted through genetics and treatments totally depend on the exact problems you are having. low blood pressure is actually a good thing with this disease because it steers you clear of some other very serious problems that can arise if you have high blood pressure.. i apologize ahead of time if you look up more info on the disease because some of the things can be very scary. if you have any questions at all i will do my best to help answer them. my father has had the disease my whole life (as did his entire side of the family) and sadly did not get lighter end of it but has taught me a lot and i am more aware of what not to overly panic about. i pulled this from a site about ihss..: About Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is the abnormal thickening of the heart muscle. This thickening interferes with the heart's functions by reducing blood flow into and out of the heart chambers. The disease has also been called asymmetrical septal hypertrophy (ASH), idiopathic hypertrophic subaortic stenosis (IHSS), and muscular subaortic stenosis.  

if when you see the cardiologiist they say you are NONE-OBSTRUCTIVE it is very good news!

here are a few sites on the disease:

http://www.mayoclinic.org/hypertrophic-cardiomyopathy/

http://www.4hcm.org/

http://heartdisease.about.com/cs/cardiomyopathy/a/HCM.htm

i hope this is helpful to you and if you need anymore information i can try to get it to you. it is definitely something that can be a lot to process. p.s. i was a smoker until i was diagnosed.. i no you have probably heard all the smokings bad for you crap.. because thats what i heard but smoking honestly can cause the effect of this this get much worse very rapidly. so if it comes back for sure it will make a difference in the long run. my father is proof to both parts of that statement.  -Cynthia