Enlarged heart can you die from it

You may not be able to prevent conditions that occur before birth. Yet you can prevent later damage to your heart that can make it enlarge by:. You should also see your doctor for regular checkups to make sure your heart is healthy. If you have a heart problem, you might also need to see a cardiologist. Your outlook depends on the underlying cause of your enlarged heart. Following the treatment plan your doctor recommends can help keep your heart healthy and prevent any complications.

Some fats are better for you than others and may even promote good heart health. Know the difference to determine which fats to avoid, and which to….

Discover 28 ways to power up, wind down, and have fun — all in the name of a healthy heart. Work these heart-healthy habits into your lifestyle. Congenital heart disease, also known as congenital heart defect, is a heart abnormality present at birth.

Learn about its symptoms, causes, and…. Experts say there are a number of ways to make it easier to go to bed at a proper time, including when you exercise and when you eat. Left bundle branch block is a condition in which there's slowing along the electrical pathway to your heart's left ventricle.

Ejection fraction is a test that's used to determine the percentage of blood that leaves your left ventricle each time your heart beats. A new study of over 2. Experts say middle-aged people with iron deficiency have a higher risk of heart disease later. You can increase iron levels with diet and supplements. Health Conditions Discover Plan Connect. Medically reviewed by Daniel Murrell, M. What are the symptoms? Causes of an enlarged heart.

Dilated cardiomyopathy can lead to heart failure , where the heart loses its ability to pump properly. Hypertrophy: The heart walls thicken causing the heart to become less efficient. This can happen in athletes and pregnant women, whose hearts undergo a high workload for long periods of time.

Left ventricular hypertrophy LVH is the thickening of the muscle of the left lower heart chamber ventricle — the main pumping chamber of the heart.

It can be caused by high blood pressure or aortic stenosis. Causes The health conditions that can cause your heart to enlarge are: high blood pressure coronary artery disease heart valve disease cardiomyopathy heart attack pulmonary hypertension — high blood pressure in the arteries that carry blood from the heart to the lungs.

Symptoms People with cardiomegaly may not have any symptoms until their condition becomes more severe. The symptoms you may experience include: shortness of breath chest pain heart palpitations rapid, fluttering, or pounding heartbeat arrhythmia irregular heartbeat dizziness fainting rapid exhaustion with physical activity swelling. Treatment The treatment for cardiomegaly depends on the underlying medical condition that is causing the problem and how much your heart is enlarged.

Medications diuretics ACE angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors beta-blockers antiarrhythmics other blood pressure medications Here are some tips for managing your medications.

Surgery and other procedures heart valve surgery coronary artery bypass surgery heart transplant surgery implantable cardioverter defibrillator ICD left ventricular assist device — a mechanical pump for heart failure patients Lifestyle You can lower your risk of developing other heart diseases and stroke by knowing and controlling your blood pressure, diabetes and blood cholesterol.

Be smoke-free. Be more active. Aim for a healthy weight. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. An enlarged heart, also known as cardiomegaly , is a condition that occurs when the heart has to work harder as a result of stress, infection, or heart disease.

The heart is usually the size of a fist, but it has the ability to grow in response to the demands that are placed on it, as is the case during pregnancy, strenuous exercise, and when you have a heart condition.

Cardiomegaly can be diagnosed via chest X-ray, but this is far from the best way to diagnose it. The chest X-ray may alert the physician to an enlarged heart, but the confirmatory, or true diagnosis, will come from additional, more specific testing such as an echocardiogram, cardiac MRI, or cardiac CT scan.

This article reviews the symptoms of an enlarged heart. Symptoms of an enlarged heart are largely predicated on the root cause. Symptoms vary widely because an enlarged heart may be the result of various causes. Some of the most common symptoms of an enlarged heart include:. Symptoms of an enlarged heart are not always noticeable or may be mistakenly attributed to other medical conditions. Some rare symptoms may be associated with an enlarged heart, especially if the condition worsens and heart failure ensues, including:.

A damaged heart muscle can lead to stagnated blood flow, arrhythmias, and even death. Complications are most often due to dilated cardiomyopathy , a thinning of the ventricle walls that leads to an enlarged heart.

The ventricles generate most of the pumping force of the heart. When these lower chambers lose their ability to contract, they are unable to pump enough blood to meet the body's needs, which can result in the following:.

Whether you or a loved one has an enlarged heart, learning about what symptoms to look out for will not only help you to know what to expect, but it may be lifesaving. In medicine, the saying "time is tissue" means the sooner you get the help you need, the more likely you are to avoid life-threatening complications. The most devastating consequences of an enlarged heart are sudden cardiac arrest and heart attack. If you have diabetes, high blood pressure, or a family history of heart disease, you may want to consider setting up routine appointments with a primary care physician and a cardiologist to monitor for any potential changes that may be taking place in the heart.

If you have any health condition that causes your heart to work harder than it should, you are at risk of developing cardiomegaly. An enlarged heart is usually the result of disease or health problems, but if the enlargement only lasts for a short while before returning to its normal size, there is likely a less ominous explanation—like pregnancy or a history of strenuous exercise.