Echo question

• By cajngrl
• Reply 3505181
• October 31, 2012 at 9:11 pm
• Report post

I don't have specific related experiences but I do have a damaged heart and that is determined by an echo test. The results are referred to as ejection fraction. Most normal peeps who have never even had a heart attack or heart issues have an EF of about 60. My EF is somewhere around 35 due to lower left ventricular damage from a massive heart attack that I suffered 3 years ago. Did anyone tell you the results of your echo in terms of an EF reading?

• By mommymussy2
• Reply 3505287
• October 31, 2012 at 10:03 pm
• Report post

No they didn't the echo was actually done this past summer durning an Er visit. Nobody ever said anything about the results till this last hospital stay

• By mommymussy2
• Reply 3505289
• October 31, 2012 at 10:05 pm
• Report post

Kinda makes me wonder what else I may not know

• By Renate
• Reply 3505702 · In reply to 3505289 by mommymussy2
• November 1, 2012 at 6:30 am
• Report post

I think it might be a good idea to go to the hospital records department and get copies of all the reports, tests, etc. There might be a small fee, but well worth it. I keep records of all my tests so I can compare.

• By mommymussy2
• Reply 3505770
• November 1, 2012 at 7:40 am
• Report post

Yes you are right. That is what I need to go do. There is a lot of information in all those test results that I should probably be aware of

• By Pchyk
• Reply 3507194
• November 1, 2012 at 4:34 pm
• Report post

Hi,
I think I have an ideal of what you are saying, they did my first echo when I was in the hospital and I found out what it was from my cardiologist. My BP while in the hospital ranged from 79/45 to 60/30, when I left it was 72/45. They say I flat line but I have a lot of heart damage. I was told my EF after my second echo and visit to my cardiologist. My EF is 40% after my second echo it was 45% but my cardiologist hoped for more because of the damage. A year later is was back at 40% because of a problem with edema and kidney failure. I know that my EF is at it's high point and that the heart isn't going to get any better, that it is failing. This summer after wearing a monitor they have found that it has started to slow down more.

Have you seen your cardiologist since leaving the hospital?

Have they run any test on you since you went home to rest?

Once these two thing take place you begin to get answers as to what is going on. Within two to three days of taking your first echo out side of the hospital you will get a call telling you just what your EF is.

• By mommymussy2
• Reply 3507280
• November 1, 2012 at 5:12 pm
• Report post

Hi, no I have not had my follow up appt. yet. What's weird is my echo was done over the summer and I was never told anything till this week. I am supposed to check my bp every morning and it's still really low- before talking any meds. Maybe another echo needs to be done Or at Least Id like to know more information. I do know that everything has gotten progressively worse since the echo was originally done.

• By Pchyk
• Reply 3507792 · In reply to 3507280 by mommymussy2
• November 1, 2012 at 9:00 pm
• Report post

I had controlled high blood pressure for no reason and have been on medication for nearly thirty years. I suffered a massive heart attack and was left with congestive heart failure. If your BP is dropping like mine does there is a good chance you have CHF. I found out before I left the hospital because my heart hospital has a floor for heart failure patients and I wanted to know why I was there. When were you first hospitalized?

• By mommymussy2
• Reply 3508437
• November 2, 2012 at 5:51 am
• Report post

First time was over the summer. What were your symptoms of CBC when u were hospitalized? The dr'a have never
mentioned anything about me having it

• By Pchyk
• Reply 3508714
• November 2, 2012 at 8:43 am
• Report post

I went to the hospital for what I thought was a bad asthma attack, a choking cough so bad that I spent the night vomiting and coughing. No pain at all, my rescue inhaler wasn't working, I thought they would give me a breathing treatment and send me home. I had been having a silent heart attack for some time, CHF starting setting in as the heart began to die. When they allowed me out of bed to start walking I saw heart failure unit on the door of the area I was in and I freaked out and told them they had to move me I was in the wrong place. They had to get my doctor to come back and talk to me about what happened and why I was in there. They don't like telling patients that they have the condition. Some of the medications you take will tell you that they are for heart failure like Coreg.

• By mommymussy2
• Reply 3529964
• November 9, 2012 at 5:20 pm
• Report post

Right now I am on metropopol . Aspirin, promvistain . Nifedipine. Niro patches, Niro paste and sublingual nitro

• By Pchyk
• Reply 3530552
• November 9, 2012 at 9:32 pm
• Report post

I am not sure what type of heart condition you have but the metoprolol is a beta blocker and my doctor took me off of it because of my CHF and in checking it is one of the main conditions that they don't want you taking it with but it does help correct the heart beat as does the Nifedipine. I took it for three before it was generic under the name of Procardia both are to correct you heart beat. Aspirin is your blood thinner and the provastatin is a cholesterol lowering. It could be angina caused from restricted blood flow. you are very small like me and the statin drug could be to stop your arteries from narrowing and not cholesterol and all of the nitro is to stop the pain. It is going to take some time to adjust to those medications.

• By mommymussy2
• Reply 3530575
• November 9, 2012 at 9:43 pm
• Report post

Thanks, yes the prvimvistaton is to keep Arteries open. I have cad, MVD and coronary spasms and apparently they said there is damage from high bp at some pOint. How long does it usually take for the meds to help?

• By Pchyk
• Reply 3530733
• November 9, 2012 at 11:07 pm
• Report post

I had not had a HA back then they called it some form of a coronary thing. I was given the maximum dose of Procardia and the maximum Lopressor. The Procardia was capsules yellow ones were 10 mg and the orange were 20 mg and I had a third med I can't remember what it was called but it stopped my heart when it would start to race. It hurt so badly when that kicked in then I had the nitro to start the heart back up. That is possible when I started every then.

I started to feel better that first year but they were still having trouble keeping my pressure down. They had me change jobs four times and at the end of the third year they started taking me off the meds but they said I could never stop taking the Metoprolol. I lived a pretty normal life for nearly thirty years with my BP well under control. Then I had may HA, had I not been on the meds they would not have been able to save me. Hang in there it will get better.

• By mommymussy2
• Reply 3532789
• November 10, 2012 at 7:45 pm
• Report post

Thanks I am certainly ready to feel better. Last two days I have pretty much just been on the couch. I didn't know being so weak and tired was part of this. I miss my active life. Up until all this started I hadn't seen a dr for 12 years since my youngest daughter was born- not even a cold. It is a tough reality check for sure

• By Pchyk
• Reply 3532887 · In reply to 3532789 by mommymussy2
• November 10, 2012 at 8:43 pm
• Report post

It will get better and after a while your good days will out weigh your bad. I brushed it off the first time as if nothing had happened but I wasn't crazy enough to not take the meds. I showed up to doctor's appointments only because if I didn't they wouldn't fill my scripts when they ran out. I was doing great, didn't know that being tiny could be a problem. I have never had a cold in my life and now I can't go to many places without fear that I can catch something. Thin blood and a weak heart and no true immune system, big reality check. Sometimes you just have to tell yourself to keep going and then you find it wasn't as hard as you thought, sometimes our fears make it harder then it is.

Make sure this first year to take your meds very seriously; on time always, and eat some meat your heart is a muscle and needs the protein. I never had so much meat pushed at me before and eat your fish. I cooked salmon once a week every week for that first year to help they heart. It was something I think about it when the heart get stable you will start to hate that fish. Have they set a date for you to start rehab, they help you build up the body and there are nurses to talk to and if there is something you don't want to say in an open forum send a friend request. Having a good friend here to talk to is some of the best medicate you can get.

• By mommymussy2
• Reply 3532935
• November 10, 2012 at 9:08 pm
• Report post

Thanks so much for your reply. No one has said anything to me about rehab. I didn't know I was supposed to do it. I understand Bout the protein thing, I used to be a bodybuilder and had to eat 7 meals a day that included turkey, chicken or fish. I guess it's just so frustrating after being so actIive and healthy and then bam! I do have. Family history my father died at 52, of heart disease, but I have no way of finding out exactly what

• By Pchyk
• Reply 3533064
• November 10, 2012 at 10:25 pm
• Report post

The family history is a biggie but that doesn't make it any easier to take when it happens. Bring that up at your next appointment, any one having any form of heart procedure from a cardiac event should be placed in rehab. The last thing I would have thought a doctor would tell me and that was that I was having a heart attack and it was still going on. Those are very powerful and hurt filled words and then they walk away. They look at women as if to say what are you doing here.