[Closed] Myocarditis - anyone had it?

Listen to your Dr and rest, give you body a chance to heal you don't want to cause any permanent damage to your heart.

Yeah it's pretty hard to express how serious this one is unfortunately- you're gonna have to listen to the doc on this one!

What are the symptoms of the virus?

Club member has been suffering with this, mostly shaken it off but it's taken a couple of years. Nothing like back to full fitness yet. Moderate exercise seemed to set him back repeatedly. I'd be very cautious.

I had suspected post viral myocarditis few years ago - ended up off work a month as completely flattened, took a few months after to recover normal energy levels.
Take it easy as you don't want prolong recovery/ worsen outcome with permanent damage by overstressing already stressed pump and valves.
Dolomites will still be there next year ( obviously unless trump does something silly that is)

What are the symptoms of the virus?

Symptoms I've had are intermittent irregular heartbeats (especially after a ride), and a feeling like my breathing is disturbed - which occasionally leads to a transient light headed dizzy sensation. I keep myself well hydrated and fed, so have ruled out low blood sugar.

I think the cause might possibly be from a cold bug I picked up a few weeks back. I guess I should have laid off the bike for at least a week and rested up - but, I guess you know what it's like; if it's a nice day and there's half a day free, it's very difficult to resist nipping out on the bike.

Thanks for the replies. Went for a gentle and almost flat bike ride today with MrsB for a coffee; ride normally takes us 40-45 mins each way at easy pace, but today took nearly an hour each way (had to swap bikes on way back, as wife's bike is about 4lbs lighter and has XC tyres). I was absolutely wiped out afterwards.

From what you guys have said, it sounds like i should be treating this virus more seriously. I've been wondering about the holiday for a couple of weeks now and, after today, Ive been favouring a lying by a pool, reading books holiday.

Hmm...going to look at my travel insurance and cancellation.

Long post, hope it helps.
Got normal community acquired pneumonia in 2016, symptoms were breathless on normal activities, sleeping with my pillows, lethargy etc...saw GP after a few days of being moaned at by my better half.

GP found I had a temp, my oxygen saturations were low, my pulse was fast and when she listened to my chest she said both lungs had fluid in them. She referred me to local A&E who to my surprise accepted me (i was 38 and thought I'd just be walking out with antibiotics)...get to A&E and first chest xray shows cloudy fluid filled lungs so they start conventional treatment of IV antibiotics for the infection and diuretics to flush the fluid.

Someone more senior looks at the xray and thinks my heart looks a bit big, secondary infections from pneumonia are quite common (pleurisy, pericarditis etc) so they admit me to Cardiac Care for 'observation'....4 days later after many scans, xrays and echocardiograms they decided the enlarged heart was Myocarditis and I'm discharged with 2 weeks worth of further antibiotics and diuretics in tablet form and put under a Cardiologist Consultant for follow up in 6 weeks time, in the meantime more scans and echos as an outpatient.

After the 6 weeks I'm waiting in Cardiology for the all clear only for the consultant to call me in and tell me I the pneumonia caused the Myocarditis as suspected but rather than making a full recovery all the scans and tests, ECGs, bloods etc show that I have Dilated Cardiomyopathy which presents as heart failure... i was 38 remember.

Basically my heart got so damaged by the Myocarditis that its function went down to 20%-ish at one point, it was back up but borderline on heart failure, thankfully no scarring to the heart shown on any tests but the muscle is dilated, big, baggy and didn't pump as well as it should do.

They put me on 3 meds, a beta blocker, an ACE inhibitor and a diuretic.
I was scheduled for more tests, and almost monthly outpatient appointments with the consultant.
After 6 months I felt good, was back at work, exercising again, sleeping well etc so they discharged me from their care but I had to stick with the meds.

Fast forward another 6 months and I'd become sloppy with my meds, was drinking each evening again and starting to feel like shit.
I had stomach pains, I was lethargic again and sleeping almost upright again... i should have spotted it but I was in denial.
GP investigated for gall stones, even had a scan. Gave me stomach meds like Buscopan and Omeprazole which did nothing...stomach is now starting to balloon and I'm becoming breathless doing normal stuff again.

Other half again steps in and marches me to A&E one night. I gave them my consultant cardiologist letter from before and they took me straight into resus where I again had low oxygen levels, a fast but weak pulse and pain around my liver area...the docs also saw my fluid filled puffy ankles which I'd been ignoring and decided my enlarged stomach wasn't fat but fluid...I was in heart failure.

Admitted straight to CCU, weighed at 96kg, two weeks later after huge doses of diuretics I was down to 84kg, bearing in mind a litre of water weighs 1kg they reckon I'd been carrying around approx 12 litres of fluid my heart couldn't deal with!

Transferred to the regional cardiac specialist hospital after that as I was then throwing arrhythmias, those on the forum in the know will know that VT and 3rd degree block/complete heart block aren't good news..the next step on from complete heart block is usually cardiac arrest... I'm 39 at this point.

Cardiac centre want to fit a pacemaker and internal shock box should I slip into these rhythms again, thankfully a particularly astute consultant noticed in my notes that my beta blocker dose had been increased by my GP a week before I came to hospital, he suspected a reaction and that I can't tolerate beta blockers...my heart rate at this point on bed rest could vary from 30-110 completely randomly...he decided to stop the beta blocker.

A week or so later as it's left my system the arrhythmias have stopped and I have a normal resting pulse of around 70bpm and I'm not gaining any water weight. They decide that an electrical device isn't necessary at this stage and opt for medicine management instead (thank ****, excuse the language)...2 more weeks to get the doses of my new meds right and daily weights, fluid balance chart etc and they discharge me, it'd been about 5 weeks in hospital that time....not fun.

I now see the community heart failure nurse every two months and religiously stick to the meds regime, I exercise like a beast now and have pretty much given up alcohol.
I have to keep my salt intake as low as possible, restrict myself to around 2 litres of fluids a day so I don't overload the heart (exemptions for hot days, exercise etc obviously) and seemingly all is stable now.

I've got it for life however and I have a reduced life expectancy obviously but I feel good, look pretty bloody lean and great for the first time in around 12 months and (this is cliched) but have a different outlook on life...if I want to do something I do it, I'm not going to be around forever, I'm 40 in October and 50% of newly diagnosed heart failure patients are dead in 5-10 years time....i was first diagnosed at 38 so if I'm in that 50% group I'll be exiting stage left somewhere between 43 and 48 years old...not nice but I'm optimistic I'll be in the luckier 50% that make it past 20+ years with the condition instead.

Basically doing dick around with your heart, Myocarditis is no joke and the repercussions can be permanent...if you're lucky it's just viral and transient, no harm done but....well, you've just heard my story.

Strewth deviant! Message received. You've reminded me that my parents both had a history of heart disease.

Don't worry about your heart . . . it'll definitely last you for the rest of your life 😉

Are you Matt Dawson? Google Matt Dawson Lyme.

Myocarditis is a symptom of Lyme Disease. I know. I've had it.

Have you been bitten recently?
Do you live in a high risk area?
Have you had frequent palpitations?
Have you other aches, pains, stiff neck, memory loss, pins/needles?

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4395762/

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Lyme-disease/Pages/Introduction.aspx#symptoms

No.

Myocarditis literally means muscle heart irritation.

It can be caused by Lyme disease (which is bacterial) but it can be caused by a great deal of other factors too.

Not all myocarditis is as bad as Deviants, and given a chance, heart function can come back, particularly is is mild and viral.

Moral of the story is if you ask too much of your heart when its poorly, you can damage it permanently.

Mrs officer has had myocarditis, and still has a slight heart murmur as a result.

Well, I have had a couple of tick bites this summer, but have found and removed the ticks quickly, and haven't had the halo rash or anything. A biking pal has full on Lymes at the moment, but he got after finding a tick that had been feasting on him for a couple of days - I don't have his range of conditions....thank goodness.

I'm thinking it must be viral, as its got worse since I caught another cold whilst waiting for 45 mins in the docs stuffy waiting room - bunch of snot filled toddlers running around in there. ....neh, bl**dy kids

From the NHS website link above:
'Around one in three people won't develop the rash.'

With a recent history of tick bites, I would at least flag with GP and get a NHS blood test done by PHE Rare and Imported Pathogens Laboratory.

This is the voice of experience talking here.