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.

Thanks Rick, that's tough info man. He said they exprected him to have hypertension and that stumped them when he didn't. Any ideas there?

Len, best wishes on your brother's condition improving quickly & significantly.

Hang in there Lendaddy. I hope that your brother is in good hands. Modern medicine is amazing! My old man has gone through three open heart procedures for valve replacement. I will be due for my own valve job sometime in the future as well. (Its in the family genes) :(

It depends on the mechanism of injury. Anabolic steroids themselves can cause heart failure, as well as various recreational drugs, most notably cocaine. Steroids have been reported in various cases to cause a condition called dilated cardiomyopathy, which is basically just medical mumbo-jumbo for heart failure with a dilated heart due to the heart muscle fibers deteriorating. Steroids can also cause hypertension (elevated BP) but the two do not necessarily have to happen together. The other factor that might play in is that as the heart weakens, its ability to generate pressure decreases. Thus, heart failure due to elevated BP will result in heart failure with low BP due to pump failure at the end stages.

If we assume that he has had a significant exposure to steroids, that could be the major source of his problem. Alcohol abuse also can cause heart failure, but it usually takes longer, someone who is age 35 would really have to hit the bottle hard since the teenage years to get that amount of damage. The other major player would be cocaine or methamphetamine. Any stimulant drugs can cause damage due to high heart rates from the drug as well as direct damage to the muscle itself.

BTW, I'm not trying to be a downer here, I just feel like I would want the straight facts if I were in your situation. Please don't take offense.

More good info, thanks and I appreciate the truth....don't apologize.

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

happened to a friend at work.......approx 10 years ago.........he got better and is still active today. Wishing your brother the best.

So Rick, have you seen or heard of people recovering from something like this? Or does it always end in heroics?

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

Very interested in details, thanks!

Prayers to your family.

Another thing that makes little sense to me is the chest Xray from six months ago where his heart was normal size. Is such a rapid increase a clue one way or another? It gives me hope that it's just an infection or virus or something, though I don't know why.

It's possible for pericarditis to have that effect, but that's a question best answered by a Cardiologist. Tests to determine pathogen specificity take a few days.

len,
are they giving your brother anything specific that you know of for the congestion? lasix or spironolactone or in conjuction to try and rid his body of the excess fluid? hoping the best for him. i too have done powerlifting/bodybuilding myself for 26 years (since 15), done strength coaching, but always avoided the temptation to use steroids. i will remember him tomorrow in chapel where i go for daily prayer.
best,
ryan

Thanks again guys, I'll let you know what I learn tomorrow.

Steroids can have a seriously detrimental effect on the immune system with some people. Some times it's at least partially reversable.

We're pulling for you and your bro Len. I'm *barren* of sibs (never had any) so I can't imagine what it feels like to have someone so close go through this.

All the best

Yes, people can certainly recover. It all really depends on how extensive the damage is and how well the heart heals after the damage stops. Again, I am assuming that the problem here is a foreign substance, if that is an incorrect assumption then we would be dealing with an idiopathic (meaning without cause) cardiomyopathy which actually would be more difficult since treatment would be problematic. If you don't know what is causing the problem it is tough to treat it.

There are several instances where the heart is sort of stunned by one thing or another, viral infection being the most common. A viral myocarditis can cause dilated failure with resolution, sometimes amazingly so. I remember a case of a pregnant woman who had heart failure and she recovered fully after delivering the baby.

An interesting one was described by the Japanese. Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is associate with severe stress of one form or another. The left ventricle dilates and heart failure ensues. In many patients the problem completely resolves in 2-3 weeks. It is called Takotsubo cardiomyopathy because the left ventricle looks like a Japanese octopus trap on echo (which is called a takotsubo). Saw a case of this last year, really amazing stuff.

So the short answer is yes, absolutely these things can get better. It really depends on the damage to the heart, the cause of the damage and whether that cause can be reversed or recovered from, and your brother's ability to heal.

Hang in there Len - my thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. One of my bosses best friends got the 10% diagnosis after years of partying - 4 years later he's still plugging along.

Wow, just got home and saw this. I will put him in my prayers tonight. It sounds very serious, obviously, but he has youth and strength going for him.

I just got word 2 hours ago that one of my crowd of close friends in Mpls is in the hospital after a major stroke or aneurism, (not clear on the distinction right now), he might not make it through the night. I will be busy praying tonight for both of them.

Thanks again Rick and everyone else for your thoughts and prayers.

edit: Removed info.