An enlarged heart can either be a disease or a reaction to how you use your body. Yesterday I mentioned that serious and prolonged endurance exercise will ‘strengthen’ your heart…. as we’ve been told for a few decades now. But you might as well call it an ‘enlarged’ heart. Why not? Does the heart know the difference? Recent attention has been paid to highly trained athletes dropping dead at a young age. We may be in for a surprise in the very near future. In addition, our ancestors couldn’t afford to burn such vast amounts of calories without paying for it not even in the long run. Extreme endurance training is perhaps a modern condition of opportunity: that of the ‘overly full larder.’ I know that some African tribes stalk an animal for hours on end, but they don’t suffer from a full larder.
In the early stages symptoms are not easily noticed, or in some people symptoms do not necessarily appear. Usually, at the start only the lower chambers of the heart are affected. Wait too long though and the upper chambers will go too. By then you’ll know because the heart won’t be able to pump the necessary amount of blood to fulfill the demands of your body. Shortness of breath is the most obvious first sign you notice yourself – while you’re walking; waking up short of breath at night, and eventually, your ankles will be swollen. This is because fluid can build up behind the heart and store in the rest of the body, causing weight gain. The fluid also builds up in the lungs, causing wheezing, which is the mechanism of shortness of breath.
Shortness of breath being the most obvious symptom, there are other signs to watch out for. As mentioned above, weight gain is to be watched. It may be called obesity but if you are prescribed diuretics, you’ll notice you weren’t fat at all. You flush out all the fluids stored up in your body. For a while you stop wheezing, which will come as a great relief to you. Sleeping will be somewhat improved, but I am getting ahead of myself. Accompanied by ‘obesity’ is sleep apnea, where you suddenly stop breathing and wake up with a horrible startle because your body needs oxygen and your lungs need to fill up with vital air!
High blood pressure is, of course, a major culprit for an enlarged heart. With it come palpitations, chest pain, coughing and heart racing, or what I call ‘tripping’ – an uncomfortable feeling of going helter-skelter for want of a better expression. When that happens, don’t add panic to fear – breathe easy! Keep going. Calm yourself. Last but not least is coronary artery disease, the No. 1 killer in America and the Western world. Plaque builds up in the arteries and obstruct or even block efficient blood flow. Tomorrow I’ll be looking at what you can do about the condition before it becomes a disease – controlling your blood pressure aggressively, naturally is one way. Yes we can!
