Back in November I posted a blog stating that my Pericarditis I had in 2014 hadn't come back as predicted it would... I was wrong so very very wrong!
Turns out all the other symptoms I've had recently IE 2 stone weight loss,feeling sick,swollen feet/legs,inflamed liver were actually being caused by the Pericarditis coming back
Went for an abdominal ultrasound last sunday (13th) in which they spotted the Pericardial Effusion (fluid build up) and sent me for a chest x-ray which confirmed it.
Off to A+E to be booked in for admittance to a ward,several hours and several heart echo`s later i was admitted to the Cardiac Care Unit to await seeing the consultant to discuss the surgical options.
And the winner was : Pericardial Effusion via a 24 hour chest drain :/ gee whizz that was a fun one.not!
hurt like hell and even though I do have a pic of the drain I wont be adding it to this post lol
24 hours on a heart monitor and with the chest drain in then another heart echo which confirmed the fluid is now at miniscule levels (yay!) so out comes the drain,off comes the machines!! I now need a CT scan as well as a MRI scan,plus more blood tests and a 24hour urine analysis (which has been done thankfully) and since all of these can be done as out patient appointments I was allowed home on wednesday!
Turns out there is two theories as to why this has happened again :
I either have constrictive Pericarditis or Restrictive Cardiomyopathy.
Restrictive Cardiomyopathy (RCM) is a rare disease of the myocardium and is the least common of the 3 clinically recognized and described cardiomyopathies.[1] Its principal abnormality is diastolic dysfunction—specifically, restricted ventricular filling. RCM accounts for approximately 5% of all cases of primary heart muscle disease.
The importance of an accurate diagnosis of RCM is to distinguish this condition from constrictive pericarditis, a clinically and hemodynamically similar entity that also presents with restrictive physiology but is frequently curable by surgical intervention. This distinction is difficult to make but crucial because the treatment options and prognoses for the 2 conditions differ drastically.