Enlarged heart shown on ecg - any cardiologists about?? Scared shitless!

[Fairylea]

I will start by saying I have several health issues - Addison’s disease, asthma, kidney issues (recurrent chronic utis), and hypothyroidism.

I found out my mum has terminal cancer recently.

Around this time my health has taken a massive nose dive and I’m struggling. I went to the doctors and they did two ecgs as I was having palpitations. Both of them came back as showing I have an enlarged heart.

What the actual fuck?!

I have now been referred to cardiology and I can’t seem to get any straight answers from anyone if I should be worrying or not!!

I am now in a massive panic thinking there’s something seriously wrong with my heart and I’m going to die

My gp wasn’t very reassuring and just said matter of factly she’ll be referring me to cardiology because I’m a “very complicated” woman so it needs checking...

Any words of wisdom!!? Seriously freaking out, which I know isn’t going to help.

Do you have high blood pressure? My aunt was diagnosed with an enlarged heart years ago, it was caused by undiagnosed high bp. Her blood pressure is well controlled now and she is a fit as a fiddle 20 years on.

Thank you for your reply. I’m reassured that your aunt is okay 20 years on.

Oddly enough if anything I have low blood pressure...! It’s generally about 110 over 70 ish and my resting pulse is 54.

My dad’s had enlarged heart for 30 years now but it’s not causing him any issues. Try not to worry (I know easier said than done!)

Thank you. Wow that does make me feel a bit better. Did they ever say anything about what caused it?

Are you incredibly thin? Or very athletic?
I find if someone is super skinny there isn't enough padding between the sensors and the heart, and it looks like hypertrophy.

The next step will be an echocardiogram which is basically an ultrasound of the heart. Nothing invasive.

I’m 38 and my bmi is one point over normal... so I’m not thin but not hugely overweight either! I don’t know if I’d call myself athletic... I do a lot of walking (usually about an hour or two hours of brisk walking everyday). I’ve no idea whether I should be doing that now! Eeek.

Thank you for replying.

Bodies aren't robots, OP. This could well be a false alarm; you have no good evidence otherwise. Try not to add to your health issues with anxiety about a very maybe thing that may not exist. Need to save your energy for definite problems. :)

Ill try. It’s just so hard when you get told something like this on top of everything else I’ve got going on. Thanks.

My mum has had an enlarged heart for decades. She is in her 70s and has lots of health issues but unrelated to that. Good to get it checked out but there’s no need to think it’s automatically something terrible.

By the way have you tried d mannose for the UTIs? Recommended by dd’s urologist.

Thank you. I really hope that’s going to be the case for me!

I haven’t tried the d mannose, I need to ask my endocrinologist before I give it a go because with Addison’s disease it can affect the way your body processes sugars. But the reviews etc sound amazing so definitely hope to try it! Thanks.

I had an enlarged heart after having sepsis which was diagnosed as takotsubo cardiomyopathy. I had some medication and was told to rest and my heart returned to normal over the course of 6-12 months. I was monitored quite frequently until it went back to normal.

Try not to panic too much, just take one step at a time, but I know that's easier said than done.