What should I do next?

[joewhitfield]

Last May I was diagnosed with septal hypertrophy. Since then, my doctor hasn't done anything about it. I am now becoming more and more worried about my condition as even the smallest tasks are becoming very difficult for me. I still work as a nurse where I do alot of walking which is most difficult at times. I recently had my annual echo followed by a doctor visit. I, then, asked the doctor how bad it was. He said the the average septum is approximately 1 centimeter wide. When I asked him how large my septum was, he replied, " 3.7 centimeters wide." How bad is this? I know it can't be good judging by the way I feel. My doctor had originally told me that my condition would improve when we got my BP under control. I have my BP under control, but the problem is worse. He has me on 100 mg Lopressor BID, 81mg ASA daily, and fish oil 2 cap BID. I also take Ibuprofen 800 mg 2-3 daily for a bad ankle injury I had a few years ago which left me with quite bit of pain. Also, I have minor aches in my joints. I am overweight and have been unsuccessful with multiple attempts to lose weight. My biological father had a massive MI at 30 years of age and has had 2 others since then. He told me a few days ago that he was having the same problem I am having and his doctor had to place stents in his heart and he now feels alot better.According to my doctor, my septum is almost four times it's size and I don't know how much longer I can go on feeling the way I do.

[kenkeith]

The heart septum is wall separating left and right heart chambers, and the septum has electrical impulse pathways to contract and relax the chambers.  When the septum is enlarged there can be obstruction to the normal pathways causing irregular heatbeats.  Also, an enlarged septum is less flexible and could cause less than normal filling of the chambers.  And an enlarged septum can crowd out the availabe chamber space creating less space for blood filling.

Associated symptoms can be fatigue, chest pain, etc. as there is less blood pumped into circulation with each heartbeat.