Post by brantheman on May 10, 2024 9:27:25 GMT -8
So, I've Had a Lot of Heart issues alongside my ME/CFS and Lyme disease so I have gotten through a Lot of this stuff and might BE helpful if you have similar issues.
What you wanna do first Line If you suspect Heart issues is the following:
Explanation:
Greetings, Blazer. More will follow.
What you wanna do first Line If you suspect Heart issues is the following:
- First Line of Diagnostics: Get Blood Pressure and ECG Reading from your Doctors office.
- Second Line of Diagnostics: Blood Tests called "high sensitive Troponine" and NT-proBNP
- Third Line of Diagnostics: Heart Echo, Stress Heart Echo
- Fourth Line of Diagnostics and Gold Standard: Blood Test combined with Heart MRI.
Explanation:
- Havin a normal Blood Pressure (<140/90mmHg) aswell as a normal ECG doesn't rule out Heart Problems but make some causes less likely. These 2 are very cheap and even without insurance its usually no problem to get these 2 things covered.
- These two blood markers are actually very sensitive. high sensitive Troponine or short "hsT" gets released into the blood stream when heart cells go down. while a very small amount is phsyiological and reflects a normal cell turnover, only slightly above the ref-range is already concerning here. If this number is slightly elevated and your doctor tries to dismiss it - get a second oppinion. The second marker is called "NT-pro-BNP" or sometimes just "proBNP" and reflects how much strain or stress your heart walls are getting put through. This usually happens from increased pressure when the heart is not able to pump enough blood -> beginnging or advanced heart failure. The tricky thing about this marker is that women sometimes have slightly elevated values because of physiological reasons whithout having anything pathological going on. The other way around is pretty rare. I've heard doctors talk about this marker as 97% sensitive to rule out beginning or advanced heart failure.
- When I and II turn back normal having some major issue on your heart is unlikely, but not ruled out. To assess size, function, valves, wall thickness etc a heart echo is most always a good idea and not as expensive as an heart mri. The next step would be a stress heart echo, where you have to lay down and f.e. cycle a bit on a machine to get your heart pumping faster. The stress heart echo can asess your heart under strain and is most always a good addition to a normal heart echo, if needed.
- The absolute gold standard to screen for microinflammations and other stuff that are not detected by heart echo, ecg and blood markers is the heart mri. The heart mri is highly sensitive to detect any structural or inflammatory abnormalities such as, f.e. an amyloidosis of the heart. if you have a normal heart mri and normal blood markers, your cardiologist would most likely rule out any major heart issue aside from maybe anything functional going on.
Sidenote:
Infections of the smallest blood vessels, for example through bartonella are still not detectable through an heart mri. This is very tricky because you might feel you have heart issues, for example even reduced spO2% but the tests turn back normal. The cause may be this. Bartonella and other stealth pathogens such as lyme can infect the smallest blood vessels on the heart and are not being detected by heart mri or other imaging. While normal blood makers rule out the likelyhood of major damage, minor and chronic damage from these pathogens can not be perfectly asessed. so we have to approach this exeption symptomwise.
Infections of the smallest blood vessels, for example through bartonella are still not detectable through an heart mri. This is very tricky because you might feel you have heart issues, for example even reduced spO2% but the tests turn back normal. The cause may be this. Bartonella and other stealth pathogens such as lyme can infect the smallest blood vessels on the heart and are not being detected by heart mri or other imaging. While normal blood makers rule out the likelyhood of major damage, minor and chronic damage from these pathogens can not be perfectly asessed. so we have to approach this exeption symptomwise.
Greetings, Blazer. More will follow.
Ok so turns out it's Monday 