how to increase ejection faction

[rishi371]

Dear Sir.,

please suggest me that how to increase the ejection faction ?? because my mom is 53 years old and her ejection faction is only 24% and it seems to be a case of DCMP(Dilated Cardiomyopathy).

now she is in heart failure and the water collected in the lungs and abdomen.She is having swelling in both the legs and getting breathless on lying down and feeling better once she sits upright.Her heart function is very low.

its a disease of heart muscles and in our city's doctors say that they cant do anything to increase the ejection faction... they said there is around 10-12 ltr. water in my mother's body

please suggest us if is there any medicine which increase the ejection faction...PLEASE HELP US.

Regards
Rishi

[kenkeith]

Q: "please suggest me that how to increase the ejection faction ?? because my mom is 53 years old and her ejection faction is only 24% and it seems to be a case of DCMP(Dilated Cardiomyopathy).

now she is in heart failure and the water collected in the lungs and abdomen.She is having swelling in both the legs and getting breathless on lying down and feeling better once she sits upright.Her heart function is very low"

>>>>>About 7 years ago I had exactly the same condition as your mother.  I was admitted to ICU for several days.  What can happen the heart fails to pump an equal amount of blood rec'd from the lungs.  The blood backs up in the lungs and peripheral extemities and fluids leak into the tissues.  Fluids leak into the lungs causing edema and is medically referred to as congested heart failure.  Lying down causes more fluids into the lungs due to gravity.  Sitting up or sleeping with head up high on a pillow helps.

Usually, and in my situation, the left ventricle can enlarge (dilated cardiomyopathy) caused by high blood pressure.  The high blood pressure indicates the heart is pumping against high resitance and the overworked heart enlarges to compensate.  Untreated the heart will overcompensate and the heart's contractility is reduced.  

My condition was treated with medication to reduce the heart's afterload, and the heart returned to normal size after a few months and the EF increased.  Currently, my left ventricle is normal size and my EF is 59% (normal is 50 to 70%). An EF below 29% indicates heart failure according to insurance policies.

The several days in the ICU involved removing fluids and stabilizing the blood's oxygen count.  The underlying cause for the dilated left ventricle is the issue whether or not the heart can return to normal or near normal.  If there has been heart cell damage (necrotic) then the heart wall movement may never regain good functionality.  My heart cells were not necrotic but were in hibernation (cell hiberntion...google for more info) and when blood flow was restored the cells were revived.  My cardiologist also told me my heart's EF would never increase!!  If your mother's heart failure is due to ischemia, restoration of blood flow can increase the EF.

Hope this helps and if you have any further questions or comments you are welcome to respond.  I wish your mother well going forward, take care.

Regards,
Ken

[School8]

What kind of medical you on

[jrbon]

I am not a dr. but I can tell you that DCMP has a very well established medical treatment that a cardiologist should be able to define and with that one, in some cases the EF will increase.

But in addition to that , it seems that, at the moment, your main concern is the liquids, this it is produced by the low EF but you can have low EF (I have 23%) and do not have that problem.

For that again, your drs. should be able to solve it, unless there are other problems (like kidneys failure) the solution is to take diuretics, stop salt intake and reduce fluid intake... but this should be controlled with periodic blood tests.

Good luck,

Jesus