This condition affects me. The diagnosis was made just over a year ago. For over 20 years, the diagnosis had been mitral valve prolapse. This new information came as something of a shock -- especially after doing a small bit of research.

Hi @archer. Glad to answer the call from Kanaaz to get involved in this discussion. Maybe my personal experience will be interesting to you. I've been in treatment for high blood pressure for 20 years, and in the last five of those years, finally have come to a level of stability and, hopefully, long life (beyond my nearly 83 years, optimistic enough that I try to set 20-year goals of activity when I get up in the morning).

As a result of that hypertension, I developed a type of cardiomyopathy that resulted in thickening of the walls of my heart's ventricles. Bear in mind what Kanaaz offered with the reference to the web site: there are four or five different types of cardiomyopathy; treatments for them -- and medication for those treatments -- will differ from one type to another. I hope you'll have the opportunity to visit that web site (as well as the Mayo Clinic site that Lisa cited) and read a bit about each of the types of cardiomyopathy and the kinds of medications that are used.

The other point I'd make (for starters) is: Don't become excessively fearful of hearing the term "heart failure." lt's usually not as threatening as it sounds, although it's a little like a wake-up call for a careful, deliberate plan to build a good and comfortable life by managing your condition and working with your medical team to do that successfully.

Like you, I was taken by surprise and prompted to learn about the problem from the alarm I felt when -- after more than 15 years of hypertension treatment -- a doctor of pharmacology dropped that term on me in a phone call. "What do you mean, heart failure?" I demanded. "Nobody has ever used that term with me before." He backed off and apologized, then pointed out that the term "heart failure" is commonly used in medicine for conditions that range from very serious down to "wake up, you need a management plan." As you'll note on Kanaaz's cited web site, you'll want to get more determined if the diagnosis comes back "congestive heart failure" -- a condition in which the heart and circulatory system falls short in pulling fluids out of your lower extremities, resulting in edema or swollen tissues.

I notice it's been a year since your diagnosis of heart failure symptoms. Are you engaged in discussions with your medical team about whether to fix your heart valve or to get initial treatment to head off heart failure?