so I had my mri yesterday. They confirmed what the cardiologist was looking for.
They didn’t mention my mitral valve regurgitation, but confirmed that I have a thickened heart muscle.
They said the cardiologist will measure it against my echocardiogram and see what changes/medication il need.
I had hoped that it would have thinned out as I’ve been eating like a Guinea pig and exercising since December.
My question is , Is it still ok to exercise and do 10 minutes jogging?
I was scheduled for valve surgery after showing LVH, but I wasn't given any exercise restrictions. In fact, my surgeon was fine with me going on a pre-planned vacation to Colorado (at 9,600' altitude) just before my surgery.
Did they actually say "cardiomyopathy"? I thought they only used that term when there was no clear cause, and would use "left ventricular hypertrophy" when it was secondary to something else, such as valve regurgitation.
No, the mri showed a thickened heart muscle (which i assumed is hypertrophic cardiomyopathy).
Yeah, it's the same thing, they just call it LVH (left ventricular hypertrophy) when it's caused by your mitral valve regurgitation.
It is best not to assume things like this, Left Ventricular Hypertrophy (LVH) is a description of the changes in the heart - Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy is an inheritable condition which causes LVH
ok. Sorry I had a bit of a panic earlier. I read that it can lead to sudden cardiac death and lots of other things. Starting to effect me mentally.
So even when the time comes to have mitral valve repair surgery, I’m still going to be lumbered with a thickened heart muscle?
Hi. Your pathway looks a bit similar to mine. The cariologist queried HCM for me, but has now settled on 'just' a septal bulge. The MRI scan apparently gives a fairly good indication of HCM or not depending on how the chemical they inject is absobed by bthe heart tissue. Any deformity of the left ventricle is likely to impede the flow of blood and can impact the action of the mitral valve. This may be what you are experiencing. When they do the valve repair they may cut away some of the enlarged mauscle. Regarding exercise, the advice to me was: "Do what you feel comfortable with but try not to let chest dicomfort start kicking in. ".
Hope this helps you. All the very best.
Not necessarily. My cardiologist said my heart would "remodel" for the year or so after the op. He expects my LVH to completely disappear, but I don't know if that's always the case. Same for my dilated atria (and if those are back to normal at my one-year echo then I can stop taking beta blockers).
(I also had the myotomy & myectomy that FrostyFan mentions. Although in my case that was just to reduce the risk of future mitral valve complications.)
Taco Tsubo Cardiomyopathy
Newly diagnosed with cardiomyopathy
Dilated cardiomyopathy 
Cardiomyopathy and myocarditis 
Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy
