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5% DROP WITH MY EF, SHOULD THAT BE A MAJOR CONCERN?
66 year old male. 3 years ago I was told I had mild non- ischemic cardiomypathy with a ef of 47%. My last echo showed it went from 45% to 40% in one year. In brief, my heart and arteries are normal in size. I have changed doctors and hospitals, since my first one retired. My new doctor didn't seem that concerned with the drop from the echo last month. Also had a heart cath completed due to mild chest pain, all OK. The echo read, visual ef of 52%, actual reading 40% while my heart cath read 45%. I asked about the 50% survival rate for 5 years of having cardiomypathy, he said I wasn't even close to being there? I take 12.5mg of coreg 2X a day along with 5mg of Lisinopril 2x a day along with 300mg of COQ10. I'm 6-3 tall and weight 190#. Lost 30# over the last year by choice and started eating better with no salt diet. I run on the treadmill 5 days a week averaging 5 - 15 miles. I feel good, little depression because of my condition and I do find myself catching my breath a few times a day On my health record Doc has all catagorys of cardiomypathy listed. Just looking for more and all the information on my condition I can get.
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Average 5 - 15min miles. Sorry about the typo!
@fishinpete
Welcome to Mayo Connect. I appreciate your post. Your concerns are certainly understandable. Have you sought a second opinion from a large medical center or university medical school regarding this? Second opinions are always a good idea and larger medical institutions are a good way to go. They tend to have more recent research and information.
Mayo Clinic (3 facilities are located in Minnesota, Florida and Arizona) would be a good choice or you could research medical facilities closer to your area, if these are not convenient. Try to research places that have specialists for this particular type of cardiac condition, rather than seeing a general cardiologist.
I look forward to hearing from you again and I wish you well as you seek out the best treatment available.
Teresa
Thank you Teresa,
Well my first cardiologist was in a branch of the Cleveland Clinic until he retired. There I just had the feeling like I was just picking a number and being placed on a maintenance program. Thats when I decided to stay with our local hospital that has a pretty good heart unit. I did not know there are specialize cardiologist. Maybe it would be worth taking a road trip to the main campus of the Cleveland clinic. For distance looks like the Mayo clinic would be out. Thanks for responding.
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1 Reaction@fishinpete
I can understand your feeling of being a number in a large hospital system. Please remember that if you would like an opinion from Mayo you can go there for an initial appointment and evaluation and they can work with your local cardiologist after that.
If you decided to call the main campus of Cleveland Clinic you should state the specific heart condition that you have and say that you want a doctor who specializes in that area.
I wish you well, I would like to hear back from you again and hear how you are doing.
Teresa