Help For Weak Hearts

Cardiomyopathy is the medical term for a weak heart. In this illness, the heart muscle is not working properly, that is, it cannot pump blood efficiently. Several factors may be responsible for this.

"The heart may have been 'poisoned' by alcohol abuse (alcoholic cardiomyopathy); by a virus, which might have seemed innocent at the time (viral cardiomyopathy) - you might have thought you only had a bad cold, for instance - but which affected the cardiac muscle; by long-standing coronary-artery disease that deprived the heart muscle of nutrition (ischemic cardiomyopathy); by chronic infections; by high blood pressure that stressed the heart muscle over a period of years (hypertensive cardiomyopathy); or by the infiltration of certain body chemicals into the heart (amyloidosis),” explained Dr. Isadore Rosenfeld of the New York Hospital in “Modern Prevention: The New Medicine.”

“Whatever the cause, instead of contracting vigorously to expel the blood within its cavity, the heart muscle beats limply, like an old, stretched sac. Because the heart action is so weak, the blood within its cavities does not move briskly in and out, but swirls and eddies, permitting little clots to form. When one of these leaves the heart, there is no telling where it will end up," Rosenfeld added.

If the cause is identified, the condition is known as secondary cardiomyopathy. But if the specific cause is unknown, this is called primary cardiomyopathy, an incurable condition that sometimes requires a heart transplant.nnln severe cases, cardiomyopathy is characterized by an enlarged heart, irregular or rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, fatigue, swelling of the feet and ankles, cough with bloody sputum, loss of appetite and sex drive. Some people, however, have no symptoms and may not even be aware that they have the disease until it's too late. The high-risk groups include alcoholics, obese individuals, adults over 60, smokers, those with a family history of the disease and those taking certain drugs like diuretics.

Depending on the cause, drug treatment may be tried first by your physician. If this fails, you may have to be operated on.

"Patients with cardiomyopathy should avoid cigarette smoking or drugs that may have a toxic effect on the heart. Maintaining normal weight and blood pressure are important because this reduces the heart's work load," said Dr. J. Thomas Bigger Jr., professor of medicine, in “The Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons Complete Home Medical Guide.”

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