mrcooooool

[tapandash]

sir, I m a dcm patient. I want to know how many year can I live for with this desease? may I live a normal life ?

[kenkeith]

Longevity depends on the underlying cause for dcm, proper treatment and compliance.  For some insight dilated cardiomyopathy is a group of heart muscle disorders in which the ventricles enlarge but are not able to pump enough blood for the body's needs, resulting in heart failure. The underlying cause can be artery disease, viral infections, and some hormonal disorders are common causes of dilated cardiomyopathy.    
  
In coronary artery disease, the weakened heart stretches in an attempt to compensate, resulting in dilated cardiomyopathy and often heart failure. Occasionally, dilated cardiomyopathy results from a bacterial infection.

Other causes of dilated cardiomyopathy include certain chronic hormonal disorders such as long-standing, poorly controlled diabetes, morbid obesity, a persistently rapid heart rate, or thyroid disease. Dilated cardiomyopathy also can be caused by use of certain substances, especially alcohol (when intake is heavy and malnutrition is also present), cocaine, antidepressants, and a few chemotherapy drugs. When no specific cause can be identified, the disorder is called an idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.

Because the heart is enlarged, the heart valves may be unable to close normally and often leak.. Damage to and stretching of the heart muscle may result in abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias), which may cause awareness of heartbeats (palpitations) or death. The leakage of the valves and the abnormal heart rhythms may interfere further with the heart's pumping action.

There was a time years ago when the statistic was that the majority of patients, particularly those over 55 years of age, died within 3 years of the onset of symptoms. The situation has improved dramatically in recent years with drug therapy that can slow down progression and in some cases even improve the heart condition. Death is due to either congestive heart failure or ventricular tachy- or bradyarrhythmias.  Going on 6 years I had DCM, treatment has reduced heart size and heart functions normally as far as pumping adequately...but I have mitral valve regurgitation cause by the DCM.

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