Enlarged heart

[Ant1982]

Hi my sister has been told she has a extremely large heart after attending a&e last week. She had a few moments when sleeping when she has woke and struggled to catch her breath and moments of breathlessness when doing household activities.

Ecg taken and normal, blood test which I feel was for circulation scored 700, normals 200? The xray showed enlarged heart. Hospital allowed her home and go arranged heart scan which follewed with a call today discussing the heart being large and looking at if she's been ill and any medical history related to heart in the family or virus.

GP referred on to heart specialist and discussed seeing her tomorrow to do blood pressure and check in her. Mentioned also starting on some medication such as water tablets and another unsure what. She is 52 and overweight. Does have a condition called partial arterial disease which causes leg ulcers and circulation which is monitored and the gp is unsure if linked.

Obviously she is worried and are we all with this. Obviously glad she's been treated but the term extremely large heart is worrying. Any help and advice will be greatly received.

[Shar28]

Hello and welcome to the forum. It’s always a huge shock for the person receiving a heart condition diagnosis and their loved ones. It’s takes time to sink in and even longer to find out just what it means for the patient, because everyone’s different. But that doesn’t mean that it’s all bad news going forward, far from it.

When your sister has her tests and a name for her heart condition it’ll be easier to cope with. If you’re in the UK then the NICE guidelines kick in and standard drug and treatment protocols are generally followed. For example, and please remember this may not be the case with your sister, my husband has a condition with a large heart called cardiomyopathy. His medicines are ACE inhibitors, a beta blocker and a diuretic and he had tests such as BP, ECG, Echo, CT, ultrasound, angiogram and MRI. It all sounds scary but none of these are as bad as you think they’re going to be and it all gradually falls into place.

When you look on the good old internet for information please be very, very careful. There’s loads of total bull out there, some is simply wrong, some is out of date, some is actually harmful, the vast majority of it won’t apply to your sister. Stick to BHF, the NHS and UK hospital website plus any charities for named conditions like Cardiomyopathy UK. The BHF and other charities run amazing helplines staffed by wonderfully knowledgable, kind nurses too.

Write down any questions to ask, write down the answers or ask if she can record the appointment on her phone (cos everyone genuinely forgets exactly everything that’s said), keep a diary at home of anything and everything that could be relevant - she can always distill it into more concise information in preparation for appointments.

And finally, try not to worry too much - easy for me to say I know. People on this forum are here for you and your sister, for support, for info, if you want a rant etc.

All the best to your sister, to you and your loved ones.

[Ant1982 in reply to Shar28]

Thank you for the reply and I really appreciate this.Ita just a minefield at the minute and trying to stay positive for her. I have found the forums on here helpful and despite mot having a diagnosis or a treatment plan currently, the positive posts have been giving me optimisum.

[080311]

Hello Ant1982

Welcome to the forum, when we are given a diagnosis of a heart issue it’s as if the ground as opened up under our feet, and our live flies out of the window and this new life flies in.

As Shar says once your sister has had the tests to find the reason for the enlarged heart and how her cardiologist is going to proceed you can then plan what is going happen in the future.

Remember your sisters cardiologist is so used to dealing with cases like hers and will get to the bottom of what is going on.

Post if you have any questions, someone will be along to help. Remember you are now part of the Hearties family.

We are here to listen or lend a shoulder to lean on if that’s what you need.

Best wishes Pauline

[Ant1982 in reply to 080311]

Thanks for the reply Pauline. Your comment has been really helpful and we will see what the GP says tommorow ad checking her BP tomorrow and starting her on some medication which I feels a diuretic before seeing a cardiologist and her scan soon.

[080311 in reply to Ant1982]

Hi again, I had Aortic valve replaced and bypass done 5 years ago and am a high dose of diuretics ( among other drugs) just helps my heart not have to work so hard. Just need to be close to the bathroom for the first few hours after taking!

[Ppiman]

I have read that the size of the heart is related to the size of the body and its BMI, as well as other factors, such having high blood pressure. I also read that reducing the BMI to normal limits as well as increasing exercise can reduce the size of the heart.

However, there's also something called the "obesity paradox" in which overweight people cope better than underweight people with heart and arterial diseases. Diabetes and smoking are the real risk factors for this, rather than weight itself. I think from what you've said is that your sister might also have "peripheral arterial disease" or "PAD", which is worse in overweight people but, again, from what I've read, weight isn't always an indicator of severity or future problems.

Your sister's doctors will soon have the information they need to advise her.

Steve