| Left Ventricular Hypertrophy (Hypertension)
Hi everyone. I wanted to see if anyone else is in the same boat, or might have some insight into my problem. I'm 34 years old, reasonably healthy aside from being overweight. A couple of weeks ago I had an echocardiogram done and the radiologist identified "extensive left ventricular hypertrophy" with an ejection fraction of 60%, normal wall motion maintained. I have a normal chest xray and normal EKG readings every time (have had four done in the past month), no other symptoms except perhaps a little fatigue and shortness of breath that could be attributed to my blood pressure meds...and the fact that I'm 260 lbs. (Yeah, I know. I have PCOS and metabolic issues. Hence, the hypertension. Working on it.) My hypertension went undiagnosed for at least ten years and I've only just got a handle on it.
I saw a cardiologist about this last week and after looking over the CD of the echo he told me that the radiologist overstated the severity of the problem. He said that it wasn't as bad as the radiologist made it out to be, that radiologists are there to identify problems but aren't really qualified to interpret the results. He gave me yet another pill (beta blocker) for sinus arrhythmias that were showing on Holter monitor and told me to lose weight and exercise, no restrictions. He said that almost everyone with hypertension has some LVH going on and not to worry...but the problem is that even with aggressive BP medication (Cozaar, Lisinopril, and Metoprolol) my BP still isn't quite right. It's averaging 112 on top and between 80-90 on the bottom. I imagine this probably has a lot to do with the LVH but I can't seem to find a way to lower the bottom number without crashing my BP and making myself sick. The cardio doc didn't seem too terribly worried about any of this, though he referred me back to my family doctor for blood pressure control, saying he wasn't supposed to oversee it. He also said LVH can be regressed, but couldn't give me any guarantee or any sort of timeline or guidance beyond "keep your BP around 130/80."
Has anyone out there met with a similar set of circumstances? Has anyone managed to fully or at least significantly regress your LVH? I'd really like to know if this sort of thing can work out for the best.
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