I'll try not to turn this into a sob story.
I realized I had sleep apnea after the stillbirth of my daughter (autopsy states she died of a stroke) . I started sleeping in a seperate room about the 4th month into my pregancy because I started snoring too loud. My husband and I didn't realize I had it until I started sleeping in the same room after the birth. I went to an ENT and it was decided that I needed to loose weight to stop it, but I told him that I was going to get pregnant again so that wasn't an option. He then recommended having my garganuious tonsils removed and having my deviated septum fixed. When I was just waking up from the surgery, the anastegiologist (?spelling?) showed me the EKG and said if I was older he would swear that I had heart disease but I'm too young to have it. Both my sisters have a murmer so I thought that might have been what was wrong.
So...around my last check up for the surgery, I asked the ENT why I had a ring around my throat. I got a TSH test and a ECHO of my throat done. I was diagnosed with Hypothyroidism and sent to a endocrinologist the next day. Once we were able to get this somewhat leveled out, I decided to get the heart thing checked out. By the way, she thought the thyroid problem might be the reason why my daughter was stillborn. I then went to a cardiologist and he said that the wiring was not working correctly in my heart and that I probably needed a pace maker in about 10 years, but why don't we do an echo for the heck of it, just to make sure. That's when I was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy. My EF is 35%.
My question is what caused it. Many women, after giving birth, have been diagnosed with this disease. Did they have it before and the pregancy made it worse? By the way, the cardiologist thinks this is why my daughter was stillborn. Hypothyroidism is also stated to cause heart failure. Genetics could also be a factor. My mother and uncle both have dilated cardiomyopathy.
So if the sleep apnea theory is correct, then I have been quadruple whammied.
Posted on Feb 2, 2002, 5:11 PM from IP address 209.99.35.60