38year old with congestive heart failure

[Texas3]

Hi,
I am 38 yr old female 35 lbs overweight and have been treated for high blood pressure since I was 21. I am currently on 240mg Dilacor, 40mg Zestril and 25mg HCTZ.
About a month ago I noticed that I had swelling in my feet and ankles and chest. I do get winded when I do household chores or exercise but, I always contributed that to lack of exercise. I went to the Dr. and he sent me to a cardiologist. He said I had a heart murmur and sent me for a echocardiogram the office called and said that it was abnormal and asked if I had ever been told I had sleep apnea. I said no. So, they sent me for a Cardiolite stress test and I had that done Thur. and Friday this last week. while doing the test the Dr. said I had a bad valve (back flow)and did not go into what valve it was and said I had mild CHF he wants to get the results back from the stress test and said he would call next week. I have had rheumatic fever when I was a child.... I am scared!! Does this sound like I will have to have a valve repaired or replaced can this cause CHF?? I am a mother of 3 children under the age of 5. My mother died at the age of 57 with a massive heart attack. I am so stressed having to wait until next week to find anything out. Any info I would appreciate
Thank yoy

[abbygirl2]

Hi, I understand your fear. Not knowing how the heart works and what the tests results all mean can be very frightening. Although the waiting is the hardest, I have been there, I wanted to reassure you that medicine has made great strides, and they can do so much these days.
My mother had rheumatic fever when she was a child and every ekg she has says she has had a heart attack(unknown to her). So it may just take some sorting out. Did you tell the cardiologist you had rheumatic fever as a child? I don't know anything about your specific situation but am a heart patient myself and CHF is something I have to watch for. 6 yrs ago I thought I was on my death bed, I was a nervous wreck and afraid to do anything for fear my heart would konk out. Knowledge really is powerful and the more you understand what is going on the better you will feel. For about 4 yrs, I just pretended I didn't have a heart condition, didn't want to talk about it, know anything about, simplified my symptoms when I saw my cardiologist etc. Finally I was forced to accept it and really feel much more comfortable and not so afraid all the time. It can be a very scary time, I have 2 young children, and am only 29.
Did you tell your Dr about your mother's heart history?
I had to wait 6 months to talk to a cardiologist about my condition(my GP didn't know anything about it and couldn't be bothered to research it for me). That was indeed th longest 6 months of my life. I know you are scared. I know somewhat about the tests and procedures so if you have any questions I will try to help. Let me know how your app goes.

Take care
Abby

[zip2play]

Texas,

As you know, the main danger of Rheumatic Fever is the scarring of the heart valves that often shows up later in life. I'm pretty sure I had RA among the several hundred bouts of severe strep with fevers to 105 in my my youth (no exaggeration) but escaped valve damage.

Abby's advice is excellent.
DON'T pre-diagnose yourself until every test is in including perhaps thorough angiography.
After all the results are in, make your decisions with your cardiologist. Valve repair and replacement is getting more commonplace every day.
If it's fully determined that you indeed have "mild CHF" accept it, learn about it and deal with it. Good strides are being made in manageing the disease.
But don't pre-suppose anything til the data is in. You may be worrying for nothing!

[Sharon1957]

Texas, It sounds like you may have what I have and it comes from rheumatic fever or is congentinal when you have as young as we are. I have been told I will be in congestive heart failure within five years from a bad aortic heart valve. They can replace it with a mechanical valve which will last a lifetime--the only problem being that you will have to be on blood thinnning medication for a lifetime to prevent blood clots. Did you have a echocardiogram. I did and they will be able to determine how bad it is based on the pressure numbers but I do know one thing, you cannot let it get to the point that you are in major heart failure or the success rate is not good. Let me know how you are doing and what your doctor says. I am curious since it really sounds like we have the same thing. As for worrying, I have been through major health problems, so I really trust the Lord in any decision he may make. Again, please keep me updated, OK?

[ralve]

Hi, I was wondering what you guys were saying about having rheumatic fever earlier in life, and that leading to a heart problem later. My Dad had rheumatic fever (I am pretty sure) when he was a child, I think he was very young, like five years old. Anyway, later in life, he had what they think was restrictive cardiomyopathy, and the doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. They said he had a stiffening at the bottom of his heart, which was consistent with restrictive cardiomyopathy. He had always been extremely healthy, and health-conscious. He was a runner, and very thin and in good shape. All of a sudden, out of the blue, my Mom and him were on a long drive, and he started to swell in the lower part of his body, especially his ankles. Combined with some shortness of breath, he went to the hospital when he got home, and they diagnosed him with CHF but couldn't really figure out why, because he was so healthy in every other way. No high blood pressure, diabetes, or anything else wrong with his heart. So, because of the stiffening on the bottom of his heart, they thought he might have restrictive cardiomyopathy, and one of the causes of that is amyloidosis, so he was about a week away from having a heart biopsy, when he died from sudden death on the couch with my Mom. I was wondering, do you know if restrictive cardiomyopathy later in life is associated with having rheumatic fever as a child? Does him having rheumatic fever as a child affect any of his children? I have heard and read that the amyloidosis is very rare, and he was going to find out if that was it after the biopsy in Stanford, California. I guess they just don't have many reasons that they know of for the restrictive type of cardiomyopathy, so they have to look at the more rare things. It just seems so strange, he was so healthy, he was much healthier than any of us in the family, he could run circles around us. Anyway, thanks for any help! One more question, I have very frequent PVC's, and have never really been able to figure out why, do you know if having those very frequently can cause CHF? I have them every day, sometimes as much as every few beats, they just drive me crazy. Sorry to go on, and thanks again for the help! Good luck to you, Val