Enlarged Heart: Sign Of
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The human heart is already a workhorse. The average heart beats nearly 100,000 times per day and moves about 2,000 gallons of blood. That is quite a load. But what happens when the heart gets weaker and can not keep up with the demand?
The heart enlarges to compensate for its inability to handle the workload.When the heart becomes too weak under increased strain it works harder. The result is often a thickening of the muscle. This might be a good adjustment for a leg muscle or an arm muscle. But for the heart muscle it is not a good thing.
Essentially there are four types of enlarged heart. The first is called…
Dilated Cardiomyopathy
Dilated cardiomyopathy is the most common type of cardiomyopathy (enlarged heart). It often starts in the heart’s main pumping chamber: the left ventricle. But it can involve all four chambers of the heart.
Over time the left ventricle can lose strength and become stretched. This stretching results in thinner ventricle walls and an enlargement of the inside of the ventricle. As the condition worsens it can affect the other heart chambers.
When the chambers of the heart dilate the heart can not pump blood as well. The heart adjusts by further dilating its chambers making the condition worse.
This often causes fluid to back up in the lungs becoming congested. This condition is known as congestive heart failure. As the heart becomes too weak to function well, other body systems can suffer - especially the lungs and liver.
There are a number of things that can contribute to dilated cardiomyopathy. The most common is coronary heart disease. Other causes include…
- High blood pressure
- Valvular heart disease
- Nutritional deficiencies (insufficient CoQ10)
- Anemia
- Stress
- Viral infection
- Auto-immune disease
- Obesity
- Cocaine use
- Alcoholism
- Family history of cardiac disorders
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Heart Health Note:
Nutritional deficiencies can lead to long-term congestive heart failure. CoQ10 deficiency is a good example. Several clinicals and studies have focused on heart failure reversal with CoQ10 supplementation. You can read more on this using the link below. More About CoQ10 Treatments For Heart Failure. Here is a great CoQ10 supplement at a very good price. |
Dilated cardiomyopathy (and therefore congestive heart failure) develops slowly, normally over many years. The list of symptoms is rather long and sometimes not very distinct. Some of the more common symptoms are…
- Abdominal swelling
- Swelling of the feet and ankles
- Shortness of breath
- Fatigue or weakness
- Irregular or rapid pulse
- Need to urinate at night
- Cough
- Decreased alertness
- Heart palpitations
Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy
A different sort of enlarged heart is known as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. This form of cardiomyopathy occurs when the heart’s muscles thicken abnormally. This thickening usually happens in the left ventricle since it is the main pumping muscle.
Obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a thickening of the septum - the wall that divides the left and right sides of the heart - causing it to bulge into the left ventricle. The bulging of the septum blocks the flow of blood as it leaves the ventricle. The heart must work harder to force the blood past the blockage creating…
- Chest pain
- Shortness of breath
- Dizziness and fainting
Nonobstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy does not obstruct blood flow. Rather it is a thickening of the heart muscle. If the muscle of the heart generally becomes thicker it is known as symmetric ventricular hypotrophy. When only a section of the heart muscle thickens it is called apical hypertrophy.
A third type of enlarged heart is known as…
Restrictive Cardiomyopathy
Restrictive cardiomyopathy is most common in older adults. It occurs when normal heart muscle tissue is replaced with abnormal tissue such as scarring. As a result the ventricles become stiff making relaxation difficult. When the ventricles can not relax the chambers can not fill with blood. The heart therefore pumps much less efficiently than a normal heart.
Often the cause of restrictive cardiomyopathy is unknown. Some known diseases that can cause it are…
- Hemochromatosis (the most common form of iron overload disease)
- Sarcoidosis (inflammation that produces tiny lumps of cells in various organs)
- Amyloidosis (extracellular accumulation of amyloid - fibrous protein)
- Connective tissue disorders (failure of connective tissues like cartilage)
A fourth type of enlarged heart is known as…
Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia (ARVD)
It is a rare type of enlarged heart that develops when muscle tissue in the right ventricle dies and is replaced by scar tissue. Problems with the heart’s electrical signal develop causing arrhythmia. Unlike other forms of an enlarged heart, ARVD normally develops in teenagers and young adults. It often causes sudden cardiac death in young athletes.
The most common cause of dilated cardiomyopathy is coronary heart disease (CHD). The sad thing is…
CHD is preventable in many cases.Besides leading to an enlarged heart, CHD is the number one killer of men and women in the US and other developed countries. You can learn more about this in the coronary heart disease section.
The most common result of an enlarged heart is congestive heart failure (CHF). You can learn more about CHF in the section on congestive heart failure.
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