Connect← Return to For Those Living with Cardiomyopathy and Heart Failure
Discussion
For Those Living with Cardiomyopathy and Heart Failure
Heart & Blood Health | Last Active: Jul 7 7:55am | Replies (17)Comment receiving replies
@retirement75
Many things can cause a low EF and heart failure. Many women when pregnant come down with heart failure and recovery months after delivery. Medications can affect the heart negatively just like the do positive affect.
One of cardiologist described heart failure this way. "On third will get worse, one third will stay the same, and one third will get better." Symptoms can change. My EF has been the same for over 10 years. I am at 22%.
A normal EF is 50-70. So if your EF is 50 it is on the low end but still normal. Many many drugs can cause fatigue. When I started Entresto and Carvedilol I had extremely high fatigue. I thought would not be able to take. My doctors (all at Mayo Jacksonville) told me takes time for body to adjust to those drugs and hang in there as will get better. I did, and it did.
I had a allergic reaction to Spironolactone and had to switch. Your doctors suggestion that sleep apnea may be causing your fatigue is correct. It can also affect heart failure. I am getting ready to do another sleep study to see if sleep apnea is present. It was ordered by my electrophysiologist as can contribute to heart failure, PVCs, PACs and VTAC.
Talk to your doctors about you fatigue and see if you can do exercises that will help you with your fatigue. I know sounds like "what" but your body needs exercise or muscles atrophy and you will have fatigue.
I know when I went through prostate cancer radiation treatments I was told that a common side affect was fatigue and my R/Os told me to try to keep walking as will help with the fatigue. They were right it did come on about half way through but I was already walking to keep it from being severe.
I recently had weakness in my thigh muscles and my heart failure and primary care doctors asked me to do specific exercises to strengthen those muscles. You did not mention your age (I am 79) but my doctors say with age muscles will lose muscle tone and need to do strengthening exercises. But like exercising you need to get your physicians to approve and recommend what is best for you.
Replies to "@retirement75 Many things can cause a low EF and heart failure. Many women when pregnant come..."
I live in a rural third world village, but I returned home for Medicare after a heart attack. It' s cash up front here, kind of like a lot of politicians would like at home, and the diagnosis turned out to be incorrect. My cardiologist at home was a family friend and confirmed a heart attack leaving me with heart failure and a 35, 30 now, ejection fraction. He told me I had maybe 2-5 years to live unless, and he knew how much I hate gym exercise, I bought a treadmill and religiously used it to strengthen the parts of my heart still functioning normally and elevate my heart rate to pump more oxygen to my organs. It's too hot here for outdoor exercise except for a few months, so I bought a basic model and have used it for nine years now. I have worked up to a 15 grade (maybe 8% incline) at 6.5 kmh which I do for 50 minutes every other day with a heart rate beteen 115 and 120 for most of it. I'm 80, so that's about 80% of max depending on whose formula you use. I do free exercises and light weights alternately for an hour on the off days, and take one day off each week, but do housework, which takes all day.
Since I get my blood circulating at a higher rate several times a week, I have had no kidney problems or any others that are related poor circulation. So I guess what my doctor told me is working. Netflix is fortunately available here now, so it's helped me deal with the boredom and general disdain for machine exercise. And I can exercise in a/c.
My point being is that I have stretched my predicted life expectancy from 2-5 years to 9 so far. I can still take 30 km bike rides and swim 2 miles. And while I don't feel "great", I do feel "ok", which I've learned to live with. I also take my dogs out for a 2-3 km walk in the evening. I have a big walled yard, but some local trails give them more exercise, let them socialize, sniff new stuff, and are usually free of snakes due to their being used a lot. My dogs ran into a cobra that shows up here occasionally and barked furiously to attract my attention. I shooed them away and was able to pick up the cobra with a snake stick and lift it over the wall, which about two meters high. But, yes, it got in here somehow, so we try to careful.
It's great to be able to live a semi-normal life, and I attribute that mostly to indoor exercise. If I outlive my dogs, one from the street, and the other wild, I will consider my end of life successfully lived and my time spent on the odious treadmill worth the effort.
Connect
@jc76 @jc76 My last two Echos showed my EF was between 20-25. I cannot figure out if my lightheadedness, dizziness, and shakiness is caused by my low EF or if something else is causing these debilitating symptoms. My blood glucose is high (110), but I have not been diagnosed with Type II diabetes. I have an appointment with EP at Mayo (Phoenix) but not until September 2nd and every day I worry about going anywhere that I may feel like I am going to faint. I admit when these symptoms suddenly appear I work myself up which makes it even worse. Since your EF is similar to mine, I was wondering if you experience anything like this. Thank you in advance!