I've been lyme free for many years now although I have taken herbs here and there in this time frame to keep it at bay. But life is back to normal.
Anyway, I had my yearly physical and my doctor wanted to me to see a cardiologist which I saw today.
I was told that my EKG says that my heart isn't relaxing and they want me doing an echocardiogram.
He speculated on how this "damage" can happen and said perhaps I had untreated high blood pressure at some point although since treatment of lyme, my blood pressure has been fine.
I couldn't help but wonder if this is something that happens to some patients during Lyme and co's.
Not that there is anything that can be done about it, but I know that Lyme can cause all sorts of commotion with our hearts.
I know that I did not have this issue BEFORE lyme which makes me wonder. Has anyone else had this issue and is there something I should be doing?
He made it sound like it's damage for whatever reason that isn't fixable, but he didn't say much until he gets the results for the echo. Comments?
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
Lyme can cause a lot of problems with our hearts. I would make sure to take plenty of magnesium. It relaxes our muscles ..
You will know more after the echo since it seems he didn't really give you a diagnosis?
How are you feeling?
Posted by SickSam (Member # 45330) on :
I have it. Diastolic dysfunction, impaired left ventricular relaxation pattern. My ekg is ok, it only shows on my echo.
My new Lyme doc says there's an advanced echocardiogram machine that shows that most Lyme patients have a degree of diastolic dysfunction when they're looked at with the high-powered echo machine.
My dysfunction shows up on a plain old echo. My Lyme doc says it can improve, but sometimes it doesn't. My cardiologist also mentioned high blood pressure as a cause.
Posted by hopingandpraying (Member # 9256) on :
In my humble opinion, I would go and get a second opinion from a LL Cardiologist for their input.
I don't know if you are able to travel, but there is a LL Cardiologist in CT (sorry, I don't have any names for NH). I sent you a pm with her name.
Check the NH Lyme Support Groups to see if they might know of one in NH:
I just found the notes from my doctor. The doctor's name (who used the advanced machine) was Dr. Paul Cheney in North Carolina (he's not a LLMD, so I can mention him, right?). He is famous for chronic fatigue. He has found that 100% of his chronic fatigue patients have diastolic dysfunction.
My doc recommends ProArgi 9+ to help possible diastolic dysfunction. He mentions a study at Cedars Sinai that showed ProArgi 9+ Improved many patients hearts enough to get them off of the heart transplant list.
Posted by ohioperson22 (Member # 47837) on :
Lyme carditis (a documented cardiac manifestation of lyme disease) is known to cause varying degrees of conduction disease in the heart (heart block, 1st, 2nd, or 3rd degree). It apparently must be treated with cephalosporins, and usually resolves after treatment.
I am not sure if any other heart problems are related directly to lyme.
In older individuals, diastolic dysfunction is fairly common, and has numerous causes. Aging, inflammation, and oxidative stress caused by living can create microscopic histopathological changes in the heart muscle tissue that can manifest itself clinically in numerous ways.
Lyme (and other subclinical infectious diseases) probably play some role, but they are far from the whole story.
I wish you the best of luck, and don't get too worried till you get your echo. Then, you and your doctor can discuss pharmacological and nutritional supplement options (if necessary).
Posted by Jordana (Member # 45305) on :
Sometimes this can be connected to thyroid issues. "Muscles that can't relax" is a metabolic problem. Lyme can mess with the heart of course but taking another look at your hormones might offer a way to fix it.
Posted by tdtid (Member # 10276) on :
Thank you so much for all the varying opinions. Oddly, I'm not concerned. Not sure if I should be or not. :-)
But until I have the results to the echo, it's not going to change results to worry anyway. Totally different attitude than when I had lyme and I could make mountains out of mole hills in no time flat. Anxiety with lyme ya know that would get out of hand.
I'm honestly fine and was really just trying to get some feedback on if this is something other lyme patients may have dealt with.
I'm feeling pretty good over all in life so will run with that feeling for as long as I can and will deal with this when I have more info from the echo.
Thanks again to ALL of you. Appreciate ALL of your feedback. XXOO
Posted by Jordana (Member # 45305) on :
I understand what you mean when you say mountains out of molehills. I looked at every abnormal test with a magnifying glass until I wore myself out. It's really about how you feel.