A stiff heart

[Vanilla88]

Hi I’m waiting for an MRI scan of my heart as it is suspected of being stiff? researching this online I find links to restrictive cardiomyopathy which is obviously serious. My investigations have come from having trouble controlling high blood pressure over the past 6 years and a family history of heart issues. One thing I suffer which is a problem is, after cycling ( which I started 3 years ago to improve health and fitness) I suffer low blood pressure that pretty much puts me on my knees for 5 or 6 hours. It appears the more raised my heart rate the lower the pressure.

Just looking for some feedback from people who may have been through anything similar.

Thanks

[Shar28]

Hi Vanilla88 and welcome to the forum.

My husband has Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM) after a long history of high blood pressure. Are you on any meds for your condition? It could be that they need tweaking as they settle and that will help with the issue of low BP after exercise. Or it may be that you need tests to see what your heart is doing when you exercise. Your MRI may have some answers for you too.

In the meantime, have you read the BHF information on cardiomyopathy and also the Cardiomyopathy UK website? Here’s the links:

bhf.org.uk/informationsuppo...

cardiomyopathy.org

Please be very careful with internet research because although Dr Google has some very good information like this see above there is a whole load of utter tripe out there too. Some of it is not only useless but scary, outdated, and untrue. A lot won’t apply to you as an individual because a study was based on say, men, over 70 years old, in the USA where diet/food is very different from the UK and was done 25 years ago. So unless you’re in that profile, it’s not you they’re referring to!

There’s information about exercise on the cardiomyopathy UK website which you may find useful and their nurse helpline is fantastic.

All the best to you and your loved ones.