Inlarged heart & scared

[Annb865]

Hi new here, I've been suffering with high blood pressure over this year, had ecg done as I suffer palpitations as well... Just been told left side if my heart is thicker then the right. Scared me not lying* hes put me in medication *ramipril 1.5mg will be making lifestyle changes

Question is can this be reversed & should I been referred to a cardiologist as my gp never mentioned it, and no other testing,

Is it better to take the medication in the morning or evening? Gp said morning but I've read evening as it may cause dizziness.

I've got to go bk in 3 weeks for bloods to be retaken

Thanks in advance

[Thecyclist]

You ideally need to speak to your GP as they are the best source of advice, but I can speak from my personal experience (however we are all different) as I too have an enlarged left side of the heart, also known as Left Ventricular Hypertrophy (LVH). I'm under a consultant for high BP not a cardiologist but have been told that your heart can return to its normal size, when your BP is well under control. It can take a year or possibly more. The heart is a muscle like all our muscles and when used to much or too hard they will get larger, just think of a body builder!

As you are on a relatively low dose of meds I suspect that it's not too enlarged as your BP may not have been that high for long. I only wish I was on just 2.5mg of Ramipril! I take over 5mg as well as Amlodopine, Bisporolol and Doxasozin! My BP was very high, which has led to the LVH, but as said my consultant has every confidence it will reduce given a good rest from the meds.

From the side effect point of view, it's really up to you, I'd see how you feel, I had a few dizzy spells for the first couple of weeks, but given the amount of meds it was to be expected, now I get very few. I think you should be OK. Any side effects such as dizziness will resolve in a couple of weeks as your BP returns to normal and you will be fine I would think.

I would guess with a few life-style changes you may even be able to drop them down to a very small dose.

Good luck!

[Annb865 in reply to Thecyclist]

Thank you very much for your response, I feel a lot more positive reading your reply, much appreciated

I will be speaking to my gp on nxt appointment, I didn't have all these questions when I was at the appointment, I will be writing my questions down as well. Again thank you

Ann

[GuitarAngel in reply to Annb865]

Hi. I was diagnosed with an enlarged left side heart in 2010. I have hypertension to. I’m taking Furozamide, 40mg Bisporolil 5mg Candesartan 32 mg Asprin 75 mg Symvastatin 40 mg Plus I take Tramadol and Zapain for Osteoarthritis which is in most of my joints regularly throughout the day Plus Sukkarto for my type 2 Diabetes. I had a angiogram last year but didn’t need stents. My B/P as gone down a bit. But with all these tablets I get depressed at times.

[Annb865 in reply to GuitarAngel]

Thanks for your response, and with your meds I'd have thought your bp would return to normal, I'm totally new to this, only this year my BP has been high,

And I feeling down with it already so can imagine & u understand why you get depressed at times,

[lettingoffsteam in reply to Thecyclist]

How's it going, is the bp behaving now?

[Thecyclist in reply to lettingoffsteam]

Yes great thanks, all well under control now, just need to shift some more weight which will hopefully allow me to drop some of the meds, especially the Bisoprolol as it's stopping me getting back on the bike.

[lettingoffsteam in reply to Thecyclist]

That's great news.I'm sure you'll be back on the bike pretty soon.

[lettingoffsteam]

Hello again, I had an echocardiogram, 24 hour ECG and a kidney scan.Mind you I was admitted to A&E with a bp of 244/133 having never been diagnosed with high bp before.Now on 5mg each of ramipril and amlodipine it's in the 120s usually.

[Annb865 in reply to lettingoffsteam]

Thank you and wow bet that was really scary

The highest mine was 175/89 but it’s been higher throughout this year

Only for the fact I had to go A&E last week with high bp. Dizziness & palpitations they said to go to your GP and ask them to start me in meds. Then they tell me the ecg I had done the week before shown thickness of left side of heart and gave me the meds. Still trying to get my head round it all. So wasn’t expecting this

[lettingoffsteam in reply to Annb865]

Well the x ray I had in A&E suggested enlargement but I was diagnosed with mild lvh via the echo scan.Yes it was very scary not helped by a nurse who said that I shouldn't worry as both her parents had high bp like me and her mother had four strokes before she died...that was very reassuring!!

[Khonkaen in reply to lettingoffsteam]

You couldn't make up a story about that stupid nurse.

Anyway I hope things improve. Bonne Chance

[lettingoffsteam in reply to Khonkaen]

Thanks Khonkaen.

[Aprfife]

I took mine at night as your asleep if any dizziness.

[Annb865 in reply to Aprfife]

Thank you I'll try that

[Scdhfj5]

If properly managed in the early stages it could reverse .... Usually you see a cardiologist for echogram of your heart you may need an MRI and stress test they used to put you on the 24-hour heart monitor but things have changed drastically X X

[Annb865 in reply to Scdhfj5]

Thanks for your response, my gp hasn’t mentioned anything about referring me to a cardiologist or having more tests? He thinks it’s due to be having high blood pressure

He just started me on the medication & wants me to go for a blood test in 3 weeks and advised me to change my life style’ lose weight etc

[Hidden]

I've been told by my surgery that my whole heart is enlarged with fluid round it, so that is now added to the list of heart problems I suffer from

Not seeing my Cardiology dept until next yr about this & the other problems, no doubt won't be bothered as normal!