Hello all, I was recently diagnosed with mild LVSD after spending a day in hospital with low O2 sats. I have been prescribed Furosemide and have an appointment with my GP on 25th other than that I have been told nothing.
I did the usual mistake of looking at doctor internet and all I see is heart failure I am stressing here also I was diagnosed as autistic at the age of 48., and with that condition I can't help but check the internet. Can anyone pass on some general information please.
Thanks
Could I ask where you got the information about lsvd from?
Thanks to all for your prompt replies, very helpful.
The part about lsvd not being heart failure?
pumpingmarvellous.org/heart...
I agree with TWU, I was told that HF is diagnosed when symptomatic not diagnosed purely based on the numbers.
I have LVSD but have never had any symptoms of HF, even when my EF was ~25%, I have never been told I am in HF, in fact I was told that I definitely didn't have HF.
The link Lezzers provided doesn't say that LVSD is HF, but rather that HF is classed as LVSD/HFREF or HFPEF, so i read it as yes LVSD can cause HF but not it is NOT a given.
Interesting, I've always been told that if you have a reduced EF then you have HF. I do know of many people who have low EF's but are asymptomatic, equally I know of people who's EF's has improved to almost near normal but are still very asymptomatic, Maybe different cardiologists use different terminology? My husband's cardiologist is a HF specialist so will ask him on this point at the next appt.
I thought the PM link was saying HFrEF was just a different name for LSDV, so I will ask about that.
I think you’re probably right about using different terminology! I think the modern approach is to not use the term HF if no symptoms, which kind of makes sense IMO.
Be interesting to hear what your husband’s cardiologist says.
I also read the link as hfref & lvsd being different names for the same thing.
I do remember when my husband was diagnosed he didn't have any symptoms but his EF was 35 which then went down to 30 and he was told he had moderate to severe HF. That's interesting that you've heard that the modern approach is not to use the term HF if you're asymptomatic, I know that there is some activity to get the term HF changed to a more friendlier term, but I hadn't heard that this was linked to symptoms in any way.
Will update again if I can find out re the LVSD issue.
An interesting thread! In my case, heart attack/cardiac arrest - echocardiogram 2 days later while in ICU room. Later in the day load of medics gathered around my bed, asked a few questions like "before this how far could you walk without becoming breathless?" - Me - look of disbelief and answer "Never got out of breath" Then told, "don't want you to worry, we can treat you with medicines, but you have heart failure"! At that point EF of 30%, second Echo 6 weeks later still about 30%. Once I'd recovered from the 5 fractured ribs incurred during CPR, absolutely no symptoms of EF!Got reviewed 9 months later, told EF 40-45%, and as still absolutely no symptoms, told by consultant "I'm discharging you back to your GP, you've managed your condition very pro-actively and made all the life style changes that are beneficial , just keep doing what you're doing, you don't have heart failure"!
Now I know more about the subject, lets face it, who out of us knew anything about heart conditions prior to joining the club, I find it absurd that anyone can diagnose heart failure on the basis of an Echo alone.
PS - I think the terminology Heart Failure is SO inappropriate as a way of describing the condition - insensitive, hurtful, brutal and just wrong!
Pretty similar story to Kevin except his diagnosis of HF was some years after his HA & CA. We know he didn't have HF in 2008 so they've confirmed his condition started sometime between 2008 & 2012. He had absolutely no idea!! He passed out on a plane & was whisked off the plane to a hospital in the Algarve, he and had some dizzy spells while we were away and as advised by the dr's there he went to see his GP on our return. His GP was away so he saw a locum who thought he was having mini strokes, sent immediately to the hospital. Interesting the stroke consultant arranged for Kevin to do lots of tests and actually went to the tests with him. He saw Kevin having a bit of a spell and said I think it's your heart, referred him to a heart failure specialist and the rest is history! When we next saw the GP he said had we seen him on our return he would have just put it down to a faint!Yes, HF is an horrendous term that instills immediate fear, we wasn't surprised that his heart wasn't doing too well as he did have extensive damage but we both went into shock when we were told, just kept think they must have got this wrong! So I totally get it when people post bout it!
Very interesting thread here. I was told I had heart moderate to severe heart failure based purely on an EF of low to mid 30s, I was, and still am, asymptomatic. Even when my EF improved to over 40 I was still told I had moderate to mild heart failure, and mild heart failure when it was in high 40s. It scared the hell out of me, especially when I naively search Dr Google. I do hope change is happening with this diagnosis as the main problems I had early on where psychological, based on the label 'heart failure '. I couldn't get my head around how I could have something so serious without any symptoms, I still hiked up hills etc. For a while I stopped as I was so worried about the label. This label is an example of 'words that hurt' and practice needs to change when applying it.
This is a brilliant reply and very informative too - thank you especially as I’ve found out that I a meant to have LVSD too and Heart Failure
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Heart failure is quite an unnerving statement. It was given to me in Feb together with other 'bad' heart news and sent me into a 3 months depression. You are so right. It 'just' means the heart....my right side....does not pump quite as well as it should and medics should take the time to spell it our to patients and stop worrying them unnecessarily
Thank you, I was confused as you had said that LVSD wasn't the same as heart failure although the 2 are often related. I think the Pumping Marvellous explanation is excellent on this point.
I can't answer for what the is happening re heart failure in America but in the UK there is a trend now towards using another term where the reduced EF has improved (I'll look that term up and get back to you), although that doesn't necessarily mean you're asymptomatic, and of course there is the more well known HFrEF which again you can be symptomatic or asymptomatic and then there is the HFpEF which is a fairly recent (!!) categorisation. Not much is known about this type of HF or how it responds to treatment.
Can I recommend the Pumping Marvellous website to you, I think you would find it really interesting given your interest in heart matters and heart failure.
Yes, there's been a big push to get the terminology changed, it's not an encouraging term by any means.
Thank you for the link, I will read it in time. At the moment I'm researching the LVSD issue, I haven't come across anything UK wise but certainly it seems the USA sites are saying there is a recent trend to separate the 2 conditions.
If you must check the internet, only use accredited website like the NHS.
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