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ABOUT CARDIOMYOPATHY
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Cardiomyopathy means disease of the heart muscle. Cardiomyopathy damages the muscle tone of the heart and reduces its ability to pump blood to the rest of the body.
Cardiomyopathy is dangerous because it often goes unrecognized and is untreated. It is also different from other heart problems because it often affects younger people and often results in sudden death.
There are five types of heart muscle disease.
Dilated Cardiomyopathy is the most common form of the disease. It affects the chambers of the heart by weakening their walls. In about 80% of cases doctors do not know the cause. This type of cardiomyopathy is called IDIOPATHIC DC
Symptoms include tiredness and shortness of breath while exercising or resting. Sufferers may also have heart palpitations and notice their ankles becoming swollen.
Although it's not entirely clear why people develop Dilated Cariomyopathy, there are a number possible reasons. It may follow a viral or other infection of the heart, for example, or be part of an autoimmune process where for an unknown reason the body attacks itself. Certainly, alcohol and drug misuse can cause the problem and in some cases it runs in families.
Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy is the second most common form of the disease. It is usually an inherited disease that causes a thickening of the hearts walls.
Sufferers may become short of breath, suffer chest pains and palpitations, and may often faint. Tragically, sudden death is sometimes the first indication that Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy was present.
Approximately one person in 500 has Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. Its exact cause is unknown, although it's usually inherited. Screening is offered to families of those with the condition.
Restrictive Cardiomyopathy is rare, it gets it name because the condition restricts the heart from stretching properly, which limits the amount of blood that can fill the chambers of the heart. In the UK, the most common cause is a condition called amyloid, where abnormal proteins are deposited in parts of the body, in this case the heart muscle.
Ischaemic Cardiomyopathy is the weakening of the heart muscle tissue that results from coronary disease or heart attacks. Treatment for this type of cardiomyopthy is similar to that for other forms of cardiomyopathy, with special attention given to coronary artery disease.
Peripartum Cardiomyopathy is a rare disorder in which a weakened heart is diagnosed within the last month of pregnancy or within 5 months after delivery, without other identifiable causes for dysfunction of the heart. The heart muscle becomes enlarged and weakened and cannot pump blood efficiently. Decreased heart function affects the lungs, liver, and other body system
DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF CARDIOMYOPATHY
Most people with symptoms related to problems with their heart function will have an electrocardiogram, chest x-ray and echocardiogram, which allows the structure and function of the heart to be studied. From these tests the diagnosis of cardiomyopathy is made.
Medication to help the heart work better and therefore relieve the symptoms tends to work well for many people. Those with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy are sometimes offered surgery to remove parts of the thickened heart muscle.
When the symptoms of cardiomyopathy aren't well controlled by medication and a person's quality of life is affected, heart transplantation may be considered.
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WHAT CAN BE DONE TO PREVENT CARDIOMYOPATHY?
Check your family's medical for heart related problems. Learn about how to recognize the warning signs of the disease: shortness of breath, bloating, fainting, or chest pains. If you have any of these symptoms go and see your doctor as soon as you can. Don't drink to much alcohol, eat foods with the right vitamins in it, keep away from fatty foods, and adopt a healthy way of life. REMEMBER prevention is better than a cure.
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