This week is Cardiomyopathy Awareness Week, a campaign led by the Cardiomyopathy Patient Council of the Global Heart Hub. This week, we aim to raise awareness and improve understanding of the disease, with a view to enabling people to live well with the condition.
We hope that you will share the information below with others in your network, to increase awareness about the signs and symptoms of cardiomyopathy. Click here to learn more.
About Cardiomyopathy
Cardiomyopathy is a family of diseases that affect the heart muscle: ‘cardio’ means heart, ‘myo’ means muscle, and ‘pathy’ means disease.
It isn’t a single condition, but a group of conditions that affect the structure of the heart and reduce its ability to pump blood around the body.
Cardiomyopathy can have a number of different causes depending on the type of cardiomyopathy. However, in many cases, it is a genetic condition that can be passed down through families.
Cardiomyopathy can make your heart stiffen, enlarge or thicken and can cause scar tissue. As a result, your heart can’t pump blood effectively to the rest of your body. The most common types of cardiomyopathy are:
- Dilated cardiomyopathy: Your heart’s blood-pumping chambers enlarge (dilate).
- Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: Your heart muscle thickens.
- Arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy(ACM): Disease in your heart muscle causes irregular heart rhythms.
Treatment for cardiomyopathy may include medications, lifestyle changes or surgery. Although there is no cure for cardiomyopathy, you can manage the condition. People who receive treatment can live a high quality of life with cardiomyopathy.
Know The Symptoms of Cardiomyopathy
Some people living with cardiomyopathy never have signs or symptoms, while others don’t have signs or symptoms in the early stages of the disease. Common symptoms of cardiomyopathy include:
- Shortness of breath
- Fatigue
- Swelling in the ankles, feet, legs and abdomen
- Dizziness
- Lightheadedness
- Fainting during physical activity
- Arrhythmias(abnormal heartbeats)
- Chest pain, especially after physical exertion
- Heart murmurs
Getting diagnosed early can give you the protection you need to live safely with your condition and minimize the risk of sudden cardiac death. If you feel or think that something is just not right, consult your doctor and get to the heart of it.
To learn more, visit: https://globalhearthub.org/cardiomyopathy-awareness-2022/
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