Hello @marigold13 . I can't remember precisely what I have said over the 15'ish months so I hope I don't contradict myself too badly. I do have obstructive HCM, and met the other criteria (age 59 at the time) so I was eligible for Camzyos, which has eliminated every single one of my symptoms. Pre-Camzyos, however, I would get badly winded walking a few blocks on flat ground, climbing a single flight of stairs, or even bending down to tie my shoes. Also, chest pain, dizziness, deafening heart pounding in my ears, fatigue - the works. What I thought was weird at the time, but have since learned that some of the other HCM'ers here had similar experiences, was that if I ate ANYTHING within a couple hours before those non-strenuous activities, the symptoms would be way worse. I would need to stop to rest a couple times on the stairs, or stop and lean on something after half a block of walking (so I wouldn't topple over), or rest for 5 minutes between left shoe and right. I had to plan my morning routine between shower, dressing, teeth, etc so that I wouldn't have to do stairs more than once. And I took to wearing my outside shoes in the house all day. I did find that I could eat something like one granola bar and it wouldn't make things too much worse, but nothing more than that. So I could either eat normally and have a hard time even getting out of the chair, or I could eat only enough to keep hunger pangs at bay, but be able to climb the stairs with only one rest stop. Over the period of about (I think) 12-16 months, I went from about 195 to 165 pounds strictly because I was eating so little. It certainly wasn't due to any exercise! Fast forward to Camzyos, and all of that has changed. I have (unfortunately) gained about 15 pounds of that back again and my only excuse is that I have resumed my role as the poster child for lazy. One more comment is about my use of the word fatigue: For me fatigue did not mean feeling like I needed more sleep - I hardly ever felt that. Rather, it meant feeling like I had done a huge workout (as if!). I had to lie down and not fight to move my arms or legs, each which felt like they were 200 pounds of deadweight. Does any of this sound like you? I hope you can find an effective treatment for your dizziness and all the rest. I remember too well how debilitating that became for me.
@boatsforlife thank you for your response to my earlier post.
I've been scrolling the posts and this one caught my eye. Prior to starting my Camzyos journey, I had been experiencing the same kind of shortness of breath after eating. It was terrible. And as in your case, it didn't have to be a large meal. Eggs and toast would do it. I was having a hard time functioning. This went on for 2 years. The most frustrating part was that everyone listened, shook their heads, and said they'd never heard of anyone having similar experiences with HCM...