Ejection fraction

Anonymous · September 2007

Has anyone had an Ejection fraction of 36% or lower that was successfully brought back up to 50% or better? Thanks!

Miss S

lexi4 · September 2007

Miss S,

I do believe that I have read that after a herceptin break that a low EF has been brought back up. I cannot remember if that also included a medicine for the heart too?

Pretty early in my herceptin txs, my heart actually became enlarged. It was very scary. After 4 weeks off of my tx, my heart became normal size for me. It is really amazing how our heart muscle is able to repair itself.

I am sorry that I didn't exactly answer your question. I am sure someone will come by and be more helpful.

Hugs,
Lexi

Anonymous · September 2007

Wow, not even one person yet. That's discouraging.

Thanks for your reply, Lexi. My heart is enlarged, too, so at least I know that has the possibility of correcting.

Have a good week everyone!

Miss S

ps123 · September 2007

I didn't have herceptin but have heard many times that a low EF can be brought back up after stopping herceptin. I've heard of a lot of women taking COQ10 and believing it helps. If you go to www.her2support.org I think you'll find women who have been in this situation.

Pat

Anonymous · September 2007

Thanks Pat. I had gone there and read for a while, but maybe I'll go back and post my question there. I have never read of anyone who went as low as mine that went back to a normal range. However, what will be will be...

Miss S

TenderIsOurMight · September 2007

Miss S,

Was there any technical difficulty in determining the ejection fraction?

I only ask because I recently became aware that echocardiograms (which are one means of determining an ejection fraction) are more difficult to perform in women with implants. You kind of have to push the implant way off to the left to see and measure flow through the heart. If the implant can't be moved, at least one paper suggests doing an echo by passing a probe down the esophogus and measuring (transesophogeal echocardiogram with EF).

Anyways, any single reading and any one test always has performance limitations, so just thought I'd mention this to you.

I can feel your pain. I hope your heart heals with time. The body does often have a miraculous way of doing so.

Tender

Anonymous · September 2007

Hi Tender,

There was no difficulty. I had a mastectomy with no reconstruction. The doctor told my oncologist that my heart was very sluggish and he was terribly alarmed at the dramatic drop.

I am praying that the function will improve over time. I'll be getting another echo in three weeks or so.

Thanks so much for your compassionate reply.

Miss S

Denny123 · September 2007

I have had 2 echos and the techs had no problem at all measuring the EF. An espophegial probe doesn't sound like a lot of fun to me!
My left side has a lat flap over a saline implant. After many nightmares with MUGA's and IV's in my feet, I sure hope the Echos continue to be very easy for me.

TenderIsOurMight · September 2007

Miss S,

You are very welcome. I also have heard that CoQ10 is felt by some to be helpful to the heart function. Of course, stopping the inciting agent is the first and best way to promote healing. And regular use of any blood pressure medicines, and slowly re-instituting an exercise program. I understand your great concern and wish for improvement over time. I will keep you in my thoughts and hope we hear back from you.

Denny,
Don't be alarmed. Since your echo had no problem "seeing" through your flap/saline implant already, there's no reason to think one should start now. The problem seems to be somewhat random, and more with silicone as they are less clear than saline. You should be fine!

Good cheer, ladies.
Tender

DebbieB · September 2007

Hi Miss S,

Whether your EF will go up on its own without meds is probably dependent on whether or not you have permanent heart damage. I found out in May my heart was damaged from the Adriamycin I had 5.5 years ago. I ended up in the hospital with Congestive Heart Failure and I'm only 51 and am not overwright, don't have High BP or High Cholesterol. My EF is between 18-22% depending on the test. I'm on lots of heart meds and will find out in December whether it has gone up or not. According to the cardiologist about 50-60% of people respond to the medications. Hopefully mine will go up and I can get down to just 1-2 heart meds a day.

If your heart is not permanently damaged, your EF is likely to go back up. I would take 100 mg of COQ10 daily. However, if you experience any shortness of breath, swelling or wake up during the night unable to breath get to the ER.

I'm not trying to scare you but when I ended up in the hospital with CHF it absolutely floored me worse than when I was dx'd with BC. I wouldn't wish this on anyone.

Debbie

GraceB · September 2007

Hello Ms. S.

I haven't had my herceptin in a while and I do believe that I was actually down to a 41. Onc. wasn't happy

so I had to go on a month's stall. When the numbers were back the next month I started again.

I finished the treatment with no other problems.

Sorry if you were worried. I am 2 years out from that now and no problems since.

Grace

Anonymous · September 2007

Debbie,

I am so sorry for all you have gone through with your heart. I have to say I was also more upset to find out my heart was so badly damaged and I wasn't going to be able to have Herceptin anymore than when I was dx'ed with BC, too.

I thought I had BC before my biopsy, so it wasn't a surprise at all. My LVEF being so low came out of left field! I did have the symptoms, but I was attributing them all to other things.

Grace, I'm glad you were able to finish Herceptin and don't have any ongoing heart problems. That is such a blessing!

Hope everyone has a greart weekend!

Miss S

janet11 · September 2007

Mine went from 63% to 44% from the Herceptin. Actually, it went to 48% and I stopped Herceptin. Two months later it went to 44%.

They scheduled my next MUGA 3 months later and I'm now on Coreg-CR, so I hope the EF has finally stopped dropping. Will find out in a month. I'm luck -- mine is still high enought that I DON'T have any symptoms or problems.

Good luck!!

Anonymous · September 2007

Janet, I hope you will find your EF raising with your next Muga.

I wasn't able to find anyone online who could answer positively to my original question, "Has anyone had an Ejection fraction of 36% or lower that was successfully brought back up to 50% or better? Thanks!"

However, I ended up asking my cardiologist if he had ever had a patient who achieved this and he said yes. He didn't exactly sound like he was expecting it to happen for me. I'm gonna write a new post about my most recent adventure. LOL

Thanks everyone!

Miss S

Ejection fraction

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