What does Slow Heart Pumping Indicate?
Heart muscle slow pumping means that the muscle of your heart has weakened. It may be due to a condition known as cardiomyopathy. Cardiomyopathy is a progressive disease of the myocardium or the heart muscle. Usually, the heart muscle is weak and unable to pump blood to another body. Many types of cardiomyopathy can be caused by many factors, from heart disease to certain medications. All of these can lead to irregular heartbeats, heart failure, heart problems, or other problems. Let’s discuss this in detail.
Symptoms
The symptoms of all types of cardiomyopathy are similar. In any case, the heart cannot supply enough blood to the tissues and organs of the body. Symptoms may include:
- Fatigue and exhaustion
- Breathe shortness, especially when exercising
- Vertigo and lightheadedness
- Chest pain
- Fainting attacks
- Heart palpitations
- Hypertension (High blood pressure)
- Swelling or edema of the ankles, feet, and legs
Causes
The cause of cardiomyopathy is often unknown. However, for some people, it results from other conditions (acquired) or inherited from parents (inheritance).
Some conditions or behaviors that can cause cardiomyopathy include:
- Chronic high blood pressure
- Tissue damage from a heart attack
- Heart rate for a more extended period
- Heart problems
- Transmission of covid-19
- Certain illnesses, especially those that cause heart disease
- Metabolic diseases, such as obesity, thyroid disease, or diabetes
- Lack of essential vitamins or nutrients, such as thiamine (vitamin B-1)
- Pregnancy problems
- Iron builds up in the heart muscle (hemochromatosis)
- The development of small clumps of inflammatory cells (granulomas) in a part of the body, including the heart and lungs (sarcoidosis)
- Absorption of protein in the body (amyloidosis)
- Infectious diseases
- Drinking too much alcohol over the years
- Use of drugs, amphetamines, or anabolic steroids
- The use of specific chemotherapy and radiation therapy for the treatment of cancer
Treatment
The treatment options for cardiomyopathy are:
- Management of signs and symptoms
- Prevent the disease from getting worse
- Reduce the risk of problems
The type of treatment you receive depends on the type of cardiomyopathy you have. You can consult a Cardiologist in Karachi to check whether your heart is healthy or not.
Medication
Many medicines are used to treat cardiomyopathy. Medications for cardiomyopathy can help:
- Improves the heart’s ability to pump blood
- Blood flow
- Hypertension
- Slow heartbeat
- Eliminates excess fluid from the body
- Prevent blood clots
Therapies
Non-surgical procedures used to treat cardiomyopathy or arrhythmias include:
Septal Ablation
A small amount of thick muscle is destroyed by injecting alcohol through a long, thin tube (catheter) into a vein that carries blood to the site. This allows blood to flow to the area.
High-frequency Ablation
To treat an abnormal heart rhythm, doctors pass a long flexible catheter through a vein in the heart. The electrodes in the head of the catheter send energy to damage small areas of heart tissue that are abnormal and cause the heart to beat abnormally.
Surgery or other Procedures
Several types of devices can be implanted surgically into the heart to improve function and reduce symptoms, including:
Implantable Cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD)
These devices monitor your heart rate and send an electric shock if necessary to control the abnormal heartbeat. CDI does not treat cardiomyopathy, but it monitors and manages physical differences, leading to severe complications.
Ventricular Assist Device (VAD)
The VAD is usually determined after obtaining less interference. It helps blood flow through the heart. It can be used as a long-term or short-term treatment while waiting for a heart transplant.
Pacemaker
In the skin of the chest or abdomen, these small devices use electrical stimulation to control arrhythmias. Types of surgery used to treat cardiomyopathy include:
Septal myotomy
In this open-heart surgery, doctors remove part of the heart muscle (septum). It separates the bottom two layers of the heart (ventricles). Removing part of the heart muscle improves blood flow to the heart and reduces mitral regurgitation.
Heart Transplant
It is used to treat hypertrophic cardiomyopathy; in such a condition, doctors suggest a heart transplant. It is done when you have severe heart failure and medications, and other treatments don’t work.
Preventive Measures
- Managing diabetes if you have diabetes
- Quitting smoking if you smoke
- Managing blood pressure
- Stress management
- Healthy eating
- Exercise
Different Types of Cardiomyopathy
Dilated Cardiomyopathy
The most common form, dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), occurs when the heart muscle weakens to absorb good blood.
Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy
It occurs when the walls of the heart thicken and prevent blood from flowing through the heart.
Arrhythmic Right Ventricular Dysplasia (ARVD)
It is a rare form of but the leading cause of death in young athletes. In common inherited cardiomyopathy, extra fat and tissue replace the muscles of the right ventricle.
Restrictive Cardiomyopathy
It occurs when the ventricles stiffen and do not relax enough to fill with blood.
Postpartum Cardiomyopathy
It occurs during or after pregnancy. This type rarely occurs when the heart is weakened in the 5th month of childbirth or the last month of pregnancy. Alcoholic cardiomyopathy
It is caused by excessive alcohol consumption over a long period, which weakens the heart and therefore cannot pump blood properly.
Ischemic Cardiomyopathy
It occurs when the heart cannot pump blood to other parts of the body due to heart disease. T
Incompressible cardiomyopathy
It is a rare disease at birth. It is caused by an abnormal growth of the heart muscle in the uterus.
You should regularly go for a checkup to make sure your heart is working appropriately. You can make an appointment with one of the best Cardiologists in Karachi through Marham.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1- Can you improve muscle weakness?
Exercise stimulates new muscle growth and weakened arteries in people with heart failure.
2- What food should be avoided with heart disease?
- Sausage and other processed meats
- Bacon
- Dessert
- Energy Drinks
- Fast food
- Too much salt
- Coconut oil
3- Which fruit is good for the heart?
- Raspberries
- Blueberries
- Strawberries
- Blackberries
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