As many as 750,000 people in the United States may have hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, an inherited condition in which the left ventricle of the heart becomes thicker than usual.
This condition can cause symptoms like dizziness or lightheadedness, shortness of breath, fatigue, heart palpitations, episodes of fainting, and the symptom that everyone associates with heart trouble, chest pain — especially when you’re moving around.
One potentially serious complication of untreated hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is atrial fibrillation, or “Afib.” It’s another name for an irregular heart rate or arrhythmia.
Your heart might feel like it’s racing or thumping against your chest wall, or you might even sense that it’s skipping a beat. It’s dangerous because the blood can pool inside your heart when it doesn’t get pumped out regularly.
This can lead to a blood clot. If your heart pumps that blood clot out to your brain, it could block blood flow, and you could have a stroke. Blood thinners can help reduce the risk.
If you notice that you’re often short of breath, it could be a sign of heart failure. Another key symptom of heart failure is fluid retention.
Your feet and legs may become swollen, as the fluid builds up in your legs and feet. When you have heart failure or congestive heart failure, as it’s sometimes called, your heart can’t pump enough blood to meet your body’s needs.
According to the National Heart,Lung, and Blood Institute, heart failure can lead to liver or kidney damage, as well as sudden cardiac arrest. There’s no cure for heart failure, but various lifestyle changes and medications can make it easier for your heart to pump more blood.
Sometimes, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy will progress to a condition called dilated cardiomyopathy. This is when one or both ventricles in the heart become dilated and can’t function as well as they should.
The heart muscle begins to dilate, or expand, and gets thinner. It can spread to other chambers of the heart, too. The heart begins to have more and more trouble pumping blood. As the heart gets weaker, heart failure can develop.
This condition, which tends to affect people under 50, isn’t curable, but healthcare professionals can treat it with various medications that lower blood pressure and improve blood flow. This can reduce the strain on the heart.
It’s not uncommon for people with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy to also have defects or irregularities in their mitral valve. The mitral valve — located between the lower left chamber (left ventricle) and the upper left chamber (left atrium) — opens and closes and keeps the blood flowing in the right direction through the heart.
If the connection between the mitral valve and the left ventricle ruptures, it can lead to mitral regurgitation.
Mitral valve regurgitation is the most common type of valve disease, but it can put a lot of strain on your heart. It can lead to atrial fibrillation, pulmonary hypertension, and heart failure.
If you’ve ever fainted, you know that it can be a little scary. But it might be more dangerous than you realize.
Fainting is actually pretty common among people with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, affecting about 15% of them. Although some of the fainting episodes are tied to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy or arrhythmias, the vast majority are unexplained.
Experts are calling for more research — as fainting, or syncope — seems to be a possible risk factor for sudden cardiac death and life threatening arrhythmias.
It’s rare, but untreated hypertrophic cardiomyopathy can lead to cardiac arrest. The heart stops beating, or “arrests,” and it can lead to death if not treated right away.
Younger people with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy are at higher risk for this kind of event. Though rare, it is the most common cause of sudden death in young people.