I'm a bit new to this whole heart failure thing, but am trying to sort it all out. I'm turning 40 soon and my heart tried going out 12 hours after I delivered my 3rd baby via c-section 5 months ago. Lungs filled with fluid, spent a week in ICU, the whole shebang. HF was about 30-35%(?) I believe. After a few months wearing a Zoll life vest I had a defibrillator implanted and so far have not had any major issues. My defibrillator paces at 11% and I'm on a couple of meds (lisinopril hctz, metoprolol, aspirin, lasix), and just went up on the metoprolol dosing although I've been having moments of a racing beat all day after dosing went up.
So, how do you know when you're heading in the right direction for treatment? How do you know the meds prescribed are the right ones? Sorry to ask such seemingly basic questions. My Dr says he doesn't anticipate a higher HF % next month on ultrasound and that it could take 1-2 years for improvement. I don't know, maybe I'm too impatient, but that sounds so far away. Is getting a second opinion from another Dr worth it or is this all sounding fairly normal?