Signs the Condition Is Worsening


It starts silently: You take the stairs a little slower. You let someone else carry the groceries. You skip an afternoon walk one day, then maybe again the next. You chalk it up to a busy week or poor night’s sleep.

Those small, subtle shifts in behavior, though, can be a sign of worsening obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (oHCM).

 According to research, people tend to cope with obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy by scaling back their daily activities, such as taking the elevator instead of the stairs, dropping hobbies that require sudden exertion, or building rest breaks into routine chores. And you may not notice the small changes you’re making.

“If you were always able to do a particular activity, and all of a sudden you are stopping short, finishing something early, or avoiding an activity, that is usually a sign that there’s maybe some symptom that we need to evaluate a little bit further,” says Jessica Lauren Atkins, MD, a cardiologist specializing in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy at Medical University of South Carolina Health in Charleston.

One way to see if symptoms are progressing: Take stock of what you were able to do a few years ago, and compare it to your current abilities. Here’s how.



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