Heart disease is undoubtedly a very serious type of disease. Not a few people who experience death caused by heart disease or sudden heart attack. This is of course a condition that you should be aware of. However, heart disease can affect anyone, both adults and even young people. Of course the presence of a disease cannot be determined based on age because certain diseases even occur in children and babies.
Apart from the matter of heart disease, of course many people think that heart disease occurs due to abnormalities in the heart. However, this assumption is not always true because heart disease does not only occur in the heart area but can also occur around the heart muscles. Like one of the diseases related to the heart, namely myocarditis, where this disease is characterized by inflammation around the heart muscles. The heart muscle basically functions to pump blood into and out of the heart to all parts of the human body.
If inflammation occurs around the heart muscle, the muscle will not work properly causing several disorders such as difficulty breathing, irregular heartbeat, heart damage, sudden heart attack and blood clots. Some of the problems with heart disease are mostly caused by inflammation around the heart muscles. So, what are the symptoms of myocartidis which turn out to be quite dangerous? For more details, let’s just look at our explanation below!
What Is Myocarditis
As we have explained briefly at the points above, myocarditis is an inflammation that occurs around the heart muscles. Furthermore, myocarditis occurs where the lining of the heart walls is also inflamed. Myocarditis certainly affects the heart muscle cells and also the heart’s electrical system. This condition will eventually interfere with a performance of the heart in the blood and an irregular heartbeat.
Inflammatory disorders that occur in the heart muscle will certainly make the heart condition quite serious. We all know that inflammation is characterized by the body’s normal reaction to infection and injury. If inflammation occurs in a certain place, of course, the tissue around the wound will swell and also turn red. Likewise what happens to inflammation that occurs around the heart muscles. Even though our immune system will produce special cells to make repairs around the wound, if this happens for a long time it will make the inflammation worse.
Inflammation that occurs around the heart muscle can certainly cause several complications, including:
Arrhythmia
Arrhythmias or sudden death of course can occur and be caused by myocarditis. This is due to damage to the heart muscles which can cause an irregular heartbeat. The condition if the arrhythmia is in a severe enough condition, then sudden death will occur at any time.
Heart failure
Apart from causing sudden death, myocarditis can also lead to heart failure. This is because the inflammation that occurs will result in damage to the heart muscles so that they can no longer pump the heart effectively, causing heart failure.
Sudden heart attack
The next complication that can occur due to myocarditis is that it can cause sudden cardiac arrest. This is because blood cannot be pumped out, causing blood to clog and clot in one of the heart arteries. If this condition occurs, the blood clot will cause a stroke.
These are some of the complications that occur due to myocarditis, which you shouldn’t just ignore.
Causes of Myocarditis
Of course, various diseases occur because they are caused by several things that most people do not realize. In general, myocarditis is caused by bacteria, fungal infections and viruses. When an infection tries to attack the body of course the immune system will release chemicals to fight disease that will enter the body. This condition can cause inflammation to occur. The inflammation will of course make your heart fat.
It is undeniable that autoimmune diseases will cause the body’s immune system to fight the heart to be damaged and also cause inflammation. It is difficult to determine the cause of this myocarditis because it is not yet known the exact cause of the symptoms of myocarditis. However, there are several things that are believed to be the cause of myocarditis, including:
Bacteria
The first cause of myocarditis is bacteria that enter the body. These bacteria are also known to cause diphtheria and also Lyme disease. This type of bacteria can be caused by streptococcus and staphylococcus.
Virus
Apart from bacteria, viruses are also believed to be one of the causes of myocarditis symptoms. Some of these viruses include adenovirus that causes colds, coxsackie virus B, and also parvovirus B19 which causes a rash with disease. Other types of viruses that are likely to cause myocarditis include Epstein-Barr (mononucleosis), echoviruses (gastrointestinal disease) and also the rubella measles virus. In addition, people with AIDS also have great potential for this type of disease.
Parasite
Parasites can be said to be small insects carried by insects that cause myocarditis or other diseases. The spread of this parasite generally occurs in South America and Central America. The types of parasites are the ptotozoa parasites Trypanosoma cruzi and arc parasites (toxoplasmosis).
Mushroom
Several diseases may be caused by the presence of fungi. Likewise with inflammation that occurs in the heart muscle where there is spread of fungi around the heart. These types of fungi are of course mold, candida and also other fungi that allow myocarditis.
Infection
The next cause where myocarditis can occur is due to an infection around the heart muscle. This viral infection can cause respiratory disease and also bacterial infection.
Inflammation
Myocarditis can certainly be caused by inflammation that occurs in other parts of the body, such as rheumatoid arthritis.
Myocarditis symptoms
Myocarditis can be regarded as a disease that is quite dangerous. This is because the disease can happen to anyone and at any age. In general, the symptoms of myocarditis occur almost similar to flu symptoms, namely fever, fatigue or pain that occurs in joints to pain in the chest. This condition certainly causes the symptoms of myocarditis to be very difficult to diagnose. Myocarditis can even attack healthy people so that if this disease occurs, it will cause sudden death, especially in young people. This is what is considered by the public as sudden heart attack. Although in some other cases myocarditis can heal without treatment, such as cuts to your fingers. However, if it is related to the muscles around the heart, you sho
uld really be aware of this condition. Meanwhile, for some more serious cases, heart failure may occur. This of course can damage the heart muscles. However, there are several symptoms that indicate myocarditis, including:
– The chest hurts
– Hard to breathe
– The body easily feels weak and tired
– Irritation occurs in the heart muscle which can lead to heart arrhythmias, fainting spells and even congestive heart failure
– Advocacy difficulties
– Heart palpitations (palpitations)
– Sometimes followed by fever and chills
The possibility of myocarditis symptoms is still there without us knowing it. Therefore, if you feel some of the symptoms as we have mentioned above, then it would be better if you immediately consult a doctor for further treatment.
Risk Factors for Myocarditis
Several factors may cause myocarditis in a person’s body. By knowing the risk factors for myocarditis, it will be very easy for us to prevent the disease from occurring in our bodies. Here are some risk factors that may be a big chance for myocarditis in your body. Here are some risk factors that you should be aware of, including:
– People who smoke a lot
– Infection with various types of viruses and bacteria
– HIV / AIDS infection
– Have a fairly weak immune system
– There is abuse of addictive substances or sedatives
– Currently in the process of treatment with the penicillin method for epilepsy
– Family history or genetic factors
– Foods that have a high risk of damaging the heart
– Unhealthy lifestyle
Those are some of the risk factors for myocarditis, which you must know.
Myocarditis diagnosis
Although myocarditis is quite difficult to detect, in general, doctors will perform several tests to narrow down the possible causes of this myocarditis. The most common method used by doctors in diagnosing myocarditis is by doing blood tests to see if there is infection or inflammation. After that, the doctor may perform an X-ray of the chest area to show signs of heart failure. While several other methods, namely Electrocardiogram (ECG), can help detect heart defects or damage to the heart. To find out whether there is swelling in the heart, of course, a doctor will perform an echocardiogram (ultrasound). Meanwhile, in some cases of myocarditis, endomyocardial biopsy is also often performed by a doctor to examine small parts of the heart tissue.
Treatment For Myocarditis
For some cases, the swelling will go away on its own and will heal completely. If you have certain problems, your doctor will usually prescribe anti-inflammatory drugs to help the healing process. In addition, you are also recommended to rest and also limit your intake of foods that are high in salt. In addition, other medicines may help control an irregular heartbeat. If your heart is damaged, your doctor will recommend a heart transplant.
Those are some things you should know about myocarditis as a heart disease that is prone to attacking young people. Hope it is useful!
