EKG Questions

[mikeyandBellesmommy]

Once you have had cardiomyopathy will your EKG always be different. After both ekg'S this week when I was sick the docs said it is normal for you.. what does that mean.. I thought my heart was normal like everyone elses..

[LauraNP]

Your EKG is like your thumbprint. Everyone's is a little different. If you have heart damage (like a heart attack) your EKG will shoow evidence of that forever. However, cardiomyopathy doesn't usually have EKG changes (which is one reason why it's hard to diagnose unless you get an echo) so I would really surprised if you had EKG changes from your PPCM. I've never had an abnormal EKG unless I was having an arrythmia.

[mikeyandBellesmommy]

That's weird I wonder why they said that then..

[LauraNP]

Well it's possible you have EKG changes but it's also possible they didn't know what they were talking about!

[melissamph]

My EKG is always normal. Even during the ppcm testing. Not sure why they said that to you.

[Janelle]

I was told that mine was abnormal too right before dx--they just said it was b/c of my high pulse rate-150's at rest! Was your pulse high too?

[mikeyandBellesmommy]

Yes when they did it my pulse was at around 150 as well so they said it was sinus tachycardia due to my fever, but it seemed they thought that was normal but something else was on there. I know with Belle I had tons of EKG's which showed nothing and my ef was 18%.. so I just thought it was weird that now they'd see something weird

[heartfulloflove]

I read somewhere that heart size can affect an EKG. After PPCM, some women's hearts do not "shrink" completely back to their normal size, or sometimes they just take their good old time after everything else gets normal again. I have no idea if that could be the case, but if your HR was that high - it's likely they were talking about that anyhow.

[KellyDL]

When all this started, my EKG's were completely normal, then I started having inverted t-waves. Anybody know what causes that? The dr. said those are normal for some people but where mine wasn't like that to begin with and then changed, they considered it abnormal. I always wondered what exactly that meant.

[heartfulloflove]

From my understanding, inverted T waves can happen in otherwise normal people. A friend of mine in fact had an EKG come back with that finding twice, and he had never had it before. His doctor wasn't concerned, but he was. I know that he even sought a second opinion and his cardiologist told him "sometimes it just happens and means nothing". So 'normal for you' might have nothing at all to do with your PPCM.

Here is a link about this which might ease your mind

http://www.medhelp.org/perl6/cardio/archive/4270.html

[tabs]

Inverted T waves are often a sign of the heart not getting enough oxygen. This is usually see when someone is having a heart attack or angina. It could be seen without meaning anything. We will usually treat an inverted T wave with nitro if the patient is complaining of chest pain.

Since PPCM I have a left bundle branch block on my EKGs. This is probably because my heart was so large and still does not completely pump rythmically.

Twilah

[KellyDL]

My GP was at first concerned with the findings on mine because I had like 3 EKG's in one week. The first showed no inverted t-waves and the second and third did. That was why they were concerned. for some reason. I think I just got confused. :)