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Is Cardiomyopathy Fatal?

Whether cardiomyopathy is fatal or not depends on its severity. Milder kinds can be controlled with help of medications, and that is the majority of the affected ones, and back to normal lifestyle is surely possible. Most of severe cases can be eligible for heart transplantation. The one thing is that why this cardiomyopathy is so dangerous and, that is because it is mostly remains undiagnosed and hence, it is not treated in time. Cardiomyopathy is a very risky disease, actually a very progressive disease of your myocardium or heart muscle. Today, in most of the studies, your heart muscle gets weakened and it is not able to pump out blood for the rest of your body as the rule it should be.

What is Cardiomyopathy?

The term “cardiomyopathy” is only used when there is a disorder that directly affects your heart muscles. Other such heart disorders, like as coronary artery disease or heart valve disorders, also may eventually be the cause for the ventricles to enlarge and then a heart failure. However, the physicians do not classify heart muscle issues caused by those disorders known as cardiomyopathies.

There are so many different types of cardiomyopathy and they are all caused by many ranges of elements, but they are all very dangerous and most of them turn out to be fatal, especially in today’s adults. Cardiomyopathy may also be “acquired,” and hence it means that it developed due to another disease, a condition or a factor, or “inherited,” which means a gene for such disease was actually passed on from his or her parent. Cardiomyopathy affects all ages, though certain age stages are most likely to have a certain type of cardiomyopathy. When the situation comes to adults, some very serious complications may happen
Viral infections and few hormonal disorders are very common causes of dilated cardiomyopathy.

Shortness of breath and fatigue are mostly first symptoms.

Electrocardiography, echocardiography, magnetic resonance imaging, and blood tests are often used for diagnosing dilated cardiomyopathy.

Physicians try to treat a main cause of this cardiomyopathy, normally by prescribing drugs.

Dilated cardiomyopathy may develop at any stage, but is common amongst the age of 20 to 50. Dilated cardiomyopathy can even develop at or after the age of 65. Men are affected 3 times than women by this disorder. About 5 to 8 of every 100,000 people develop the disorder each year, according to reports.

The common causes for dilated cardiomyopathy:

Some viral infections cause acute inflammation of your heart muscle and this disorder is also called viral cardiomyopathy. In North America, infection with coxsackie B virus is the most common cause of viral cardiomyopathy. HIV infection also can cause cardiomyopathy. In other parts of the world, other viral infections are more common causes.
Occasionally, dilated cardiomyopathy results from a bacterial infection, such as Chagas disease.
A virus or bacteria which infects and weakens your heart muscles resulting in a heart which cannot pump out as forcefully as it should be. The broken heart muscle is then replaced by fibrous or scar tissue and then heart muscle stretches which results in enlargement of your heart chambers and also reduced pumping ability, after which heart failure develops.
A certain chronic hormonal disorders like as long-standing, poorly controlled diabetes mellitus or poorly controlled thyroid disease
Morbid obesity
Rapid heart rate (persistent)
Heavy alcohol use, cocaine, some antidepressants, some antipsychotic drugs, and also a few chemotherapy drugs

A rare cause of it includes pregnancy, iron overload, and connective tissue disorders like as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and systemic sclerosis. Extreme amount of stress can sometimes happens, a kind of dilated cardiomyopathy which is also called Takotsubo cardiomyopathy. Diseases such as sarcoidosis may also cause dilated cardiomyopathy. When there is no specific cause found, the disorder is known as an idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.

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Is Cardiomyopathy Fatal?