Restrictive Cardiomyopathy - Topic Overview
How is restrictive cardiomyopathy diagnosed?
Your doctor will ask questions about your symptoms and past health. He or she will want to know about recent illnesses and about heart disease in your family. Your doctor will listen to your heart and lungs and check your legs for fluid buildup.
You may also have other tests, including:
In some cases, a doctor may want to look at a small sample of heart tissue, called a biopsy, to make a definite diagnosis.
How is it treated?
Most of the time, treatment focuses on relieving symptoms, improving heart function, and helping you live longer. You may also have other treatment for the problem that is causing restrictive cardiomyopathy, such as medicines to get rid of too much iron in the heart muscle (hemochromatosis).
You will probably need to take several medicines to treat heart failure caused by restrictive cardiomyopathy. It's important to take your medicines exactly as your doctor tells you to and to keep taking them. If you don't, your heart failure could get worse.
Your doctor may suggest a mechanical device to help your heart pump blood or prevent life-threatening irregular heart rhythms. Such devices include a pacemaker, an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD), or a combination pacemaker and ICD. If your condition is very bad, a heart transplant may be an option.
Self-care is an important part of your treatment. Self-care includes the things you can do every day to feel better, stay healthy, and avoid the hospital.
Take your medicines as prescribed. This gives you the best chance of being helped by them. Some medicines for heart failure include:
- Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors or angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs). These make it easier for blood to flow.
- Diuretics. These help remove excess fluid from the body.
- Beta-blockers. These slow the heart rate and can help the heart fill with blood more completely.
Live a healthy lifestyle. This can help slow down heart failure. Limit salt, and don't smoke. Ask your doctor about how you can exercise safely. People who have heart failure from restrictive cardiomyopathy need to avoid doing too much, because their hearts can't increase blood flow during exercise.
Watch for signs that you're getting worse. Weighing yourself every day to watch for sudden weight gain is a good way to do this.
Find out what your triggers are, and learn to avoid them. Triggers are things that make your heart failure worse, often suddenly. A trigger may be eating too much salt, missing a dose of your medicine, or exercising too hard.