Heart failure hospitalization more than doubles in IBD flare

MBombardier · Post by **MBombardier** » Mon May 26, 2014 11:24 am

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 092718.htm

Summary:
Heart failure hospitalization more than doubles during inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) flares, according to a study of more than 5 million people. “We found that patients with new-onset IBD had a 37% increased risk of hospitalization for heart failure during a mean follow-up of 6.4 years compared to the healthy population. But the risk more than doubled during periods of IBD activity,” a researcher noted.

Since my mother died of congestive heart failure, my brother is dying of congestive heart failure, my father was recently diagnosed with congestive heart failure, and my genes say I am most likely to die of a heart attack or stroke, I thought this was interesting. It makes getting a handle on inflammation even more important, at least for me.

Post by **tex** » Mon May 26, 2014 1:23 pm

Hi Marliss,

Actually, that's just recognizing/confirming the obvious — that increased stress and inflammation are naturally going to make any other stress and inflammation-associated issues more severe.

Tex

Gary · Post by **Gary** » Wed May 28, 2014 6:01 am

Each of the 4x I was hospitalized with Atrial Fib was as a direct result of me having bad GI problems. As long as I can keep the belly under control everything with the heart seems ok. I also take a bunch of cardiac meds too. When I would tell my Cardiologist about it he seemed to disregard it. I guess he knows better than me!

Post by **tex** » Wed May 28, 2014 9:08 am

Hi Gary,

That's a very strong correlation with the results of that research. I suspect that the problem with your cardiologist is not that he knows better than you, but that he was probably trained to treat heart issues as independent of other organs and other diseases. Unfortunately, that's not a very accurate way to deal with the problem, because virtually anything that causes the digestive system to malfunction, is also going to lead to problems for most other organs in the body, in one way or another.

I hope that you can keep your digestive problems under control, so that your heart will have it easier.

Tex

Zizzle · Post by **Zizzle** » Wed May 28, 2014 10:56 am

Both my grandmas died with congestive heart failure. One had long-term thyroid disease (not sure which type), the other had long-standing vascular problems, which make me suspicious she has autoimmune issues like mine. I've recently read that my bradycardia (slow heart rate) is not as benign as people let on. Great.

MBombardier · Post by **MBombardier** » Sat Jun 28, 2014 1:05 pm

Things have been kinda crazy, so I haven't been on in a while. I'd be interested to know what you read about bradycardia, Zizzle. My heart rate averages about 55-60bpm.

Post by **tex** » Sat Jun 28, 2014 9:38 pm

Marliss wrote:I'd be interested to know what you read about bradycardia, Zizzle.

In my case I've always considered it to be a symptom of undertreated hypothyroidism. And as you are probably aware, I have been prescribed BP lowering meds to reduce stroke risk. I still take lisinopril, but I rarely take metoprolol these days, because it tends to reduce my heart rate down into the range you mentioned, which I decided wasn't a good thing for someone my age.

Tex

MBombardier · Post by **MBombardier** » Mon Jun 30, 2014 11:08 am

My blood pressure averages 130/80 with variations 10 points or so to either side. The doctor I saw in February wasn't concerned about it yet. I know that I have serious blood pressure issues on both sides, with a high likelihood that I will be diagnosed with essential high blood pressure in the the not-too-distant future. I was on blood pressure medicine some years ago but I lost a lot of weight and it went down into the range it is now. I take Cardio HTN, which is what doctors used to control high blood pressure before the current chemical solutions.

My grandmother had a stroke when she was 59. She is the only other lefty in my ancestry that I know about. The stroke paralyzed her left side and she had to learn to do everything right-handed.