how many of you guys have problems with your heart?

[karen547]

I am following up with my doctor tomorrow. I am now concerned about my heart. I have had a very high pulse-near 140 at times during my treatments. I have been experiencing pain in my back when I breathe in, and have had neck and jaw pain as well. I have tried taking some pain meds, tried heat, but nothing seems to be working. I have trouble breathing too. I have been very anxious lately, but maybe because i have been sick. I just wanna know the reason, so hopefully my doctor will schedule me for some tests, as I know that stress on the heart is big with dialysis .

[okarol]

Sometimes the heart is affected by fluid accumulating in the chest.

When fluid intake exceeds the output, the remaining fluid accumulates in the blood stream, tissues and lungs. This causes swelling, shortness of breath and an increase in blood pressure because the heart has to pump harder to move the extra volume in the blood. Each time the heart has to adjust to the extra work, it becomes harder for it to return to its original shape. Because the heart is a muscle, this constant abuse eventually causes the heart to become enlarged and less able to move the blood through the body effectively. When this happens, the body will have more difficulty maintaining blood pressure and tolerating dialysis.

The pleural cavity is the body cavity that contains the lungs. The lungs are surrounded by the pleurae, a serous membrane which folds back upon itself to form a two-layered, membrane structure. The thin space between the two pleural layers is known as the pleural space; it normally contains a small amount of pleural fluid.

Pleural effusion is the abnormal accumulation of fluid in the pleural space.

    *  Fluid can accumulate in the pleural space as a result of a large number of disorders, including infections, injuries, heart or liver failure, blood clots in the lung blood vessels (pulmonary emboli), and drugs.
    *  Symptoms may include difficulty breathing and chest pain, particularly when breathing and coughing.
    *  Diagnosis is by chest x-rays, laboratory testing of the fluid, and often CT scan.
    *  Large amounts of fluid are drained with a tube inserted into the chest.

Pericarditis and cardiac tamponade are clinical problems that involve the potential space surrounding the heart or pericardium. Pericarditis is one cause of fluid accumulation in this potential space; cardiac tamponade is the hemodynamic result of fluid accumulation.

[circleNthedrain]

Hi Karen, I am so sorry to hear you are still not feeling good.  I am concerned when you say it hurts to breathe.  I had this about a year ago and it was fluid in the sac around my heart.  Not from fluid overload, but from a virus.  They can check for this easily and painlessly with an ultrasound of your heart.  I hope they can sort this out quickly, and you will soon be on the road to recovery.

[KICKSTART]

Er i think i qualify! My only symptoms where i couldnt breathe , as you know i was diagnosed with bronchitis at first . I had no outward signs of fluid overload on my arms or legs ( which is where i usually get it) but i didnt have any pain in my neck either ( i still had a heart attack though) Mine was a build up of fluid round my heart and on my lungs, so please before your breathing gets any worse go and have it checked out ,its easy to just pull the fluid off you ,which is all it needs if it is a build up.

[petey]

Marvin's heart, so we were told, was always the healthiest part of him -- until last December.  MRSA got in his system and settled on a heart valve.  He had to have a pacemaker (actually, two of them because the first didn't work correctly) implanted.  The surgeon wanted to stay away from a typical pacemaker placement because of all the perm caths he's had (14 to date), so his pacer is in his abdomen with epicardial leads.