Brother having heart problems, failure.....
 

My brother is in the hospital with some type of heart failure. I'll get more details tonight I hope.

He has always had this weird fib problem (his heart beats spastic) and they have stopped and restarted his heart twice already(in the past year) and they are doing/did it again today. The idea being that it will "reset" for a while so they can monitor the heart properly. They do not see that as his biggest problem.

The lower ventricle is only contracting/pumping at 10% and his heart is enlarged 2X.

He is only 35.

They don't know the cause, but he has done his and my share of partying over the last 5 -10 years and he is a "bodybuilder"...I don't think I need to elaborate.

He had a chest Xray 6 months ago and his heart was normal size.

The docs know his full history. He had a blood infection a few years back and had some weird ass virus in Africa about ten years ago. They said something about a pericardia(sp) infection.

Sorry for the jumble of info, but I don't have all the data yet. This doesn't sound good does it?

Hopefully you'll have more info soon. He's young and presumably in good physical shape, so he should be able to fight whatever it is. Sorry to hear it.

I hope so, he's extremely strong. The doc said he couldn't believe he was walking around with those two things going on much less his strenuous workout schedule.

I hope he's put the bobybuilding and partying aside for a while. A good friend's 27 year old son died suddenly as a result of his bodybuilding antics.

I would hope so as well. I just got off the phone and they haven't stopped his heart yet, that's tomorrow.

It's actually his total heart that is operating at 10%.

His heart is enlarged.

They are confused I guess that he doesn't have hypertension going on.

He has fluid on his lungs.

The bottom line that they don't know what is causing this or if it will ever get better.

Pericardium is a sack around the heart

****. That's scary. But then....they don't know what's going on and that means there's hope they will figure it out and offer a treatment that protects his health. Thanks for sharing, Len. I've noticed the discussion about who's going to be the biggest loser. As you might expect, I think of you as very likely the biggest loser of us all, and that is a pleasing thought.

I've got loser aced lately:D

Re: Brother having heart problems, failure.....
 

The infection can be caused by a number of pathogens, it's referred to as Pericarditis, inflammation of the pericardium.

Find out what his ejection fraction is.

I wish your brother the best of luck.

Re: Re: Brother having heart problems, failure.....
 

I'll ask him yet tonight but he said he'll see his chart tomorrow. Do people actually "get better" from this kind of thing?

Thanks Hugh, and everyone else as well. Maybe I can get my brother on here to exlain his situation.

I have nothing to contribute to this other that best wishes and good luck.

I have nothing to contribute either but you and your family our in our thoughts.

I wish the best outcome for your brother.

Scott

I hope they get it figured out. I have to imagine he is freaking out about now.

Pat, he said his ejection fraction is 1/10th or 10%.

He thinks, he gets his chart tomorrow.

Just got off the phone and:

The 10% thing is what they told him his heart is functioning at as a percentage of what it should be.

He had a bunch tests and EKGs and he does not have any dead tissue(myocardial infarction), his valves are great, and his blood pressure is good. His cholesterol is actually low at 45/90 good/bad.

So, his heart is enlarged causing congestive failure.

Sooo, does this ever get better?

A 10% ejection fraction is severe heart failure. Ejection fraction is simply the amount of blood that is ejected from the left ventricle (the chamber from which blood is pumped out into the aorta and then into the body) compared to the amount right before it begins to pump. A normal ejection fraction is 60-65%. With an ejection fraction of 10%, the heart cannot keep up with the blood supply needs of the body and blood begins to "back up" into the venous system, raising pressures there. This causes fluid to leak out of the veins into tissues. The lungs are just upstream from the left ventricle and thus "water in the lungs" is really fluid that is leaking from the pulmonary venous system due to the heart failure. The same thing also causes swelling of the legs and such for the same reason.

My cousin had the same problem due to cocaine abuse. He was only about 24. He spent a lot of time in the hospital, he lived about a year or so after his diagnosis. He never stopped the drugs so was not a candidate for transplant.

There is always hope, if your brother stops his self destructive habits and allows his heart to try and heal. Whether or not that is possible is impossible to tell you over the internet. It would be a shot in the dark to tell you if I were his doctor. He might well be looking at a transplant in the future.

If you have any questions, shoot me a PM or post it here, I'm sure Art or I could help you out.

Good luck and God bless, Len.

Oh, they said the heart normally contracts to 55% of its size and his is contracting only 8% or something. I don't know if I got that right????

Jeez Len all I can do is offer up a get well wish for him.