Anyone know anything about water around the heart?

Question

My sister just recently developed a condition in which water is collected around the heart...casuing her to not breathe very well...initially doctor thought it was heart burn or acid reflux related...but after many check-up she ended-up in the ER and they had to drain water from affected areas of her body...her legs, back and so forth...after about 10 to 20 blood samples doctors still don't know what is the cause...she is released from hospital but her conditon may return at any time...if anyhow knows anything about such please let me know...any info is helpful...thanks pete!

Hi all,

thank so much for all the answers and response, it has been very informative and eye opening...my sister at the moment is doing fine...still feel shortness of breath...but managing...right now the docs are rulling it to be a case of TB...so the rest of the family members needed to be tested for possible TB...while the DOCS understand the symptoms but still not really sure why water collects around her heart...now she is on strict medication to fend away minirals and calcium development around her heart...

thanks!

Answer 1

Poosibly might be Congestive Heart Failure. People have a tendency to have swelling all over,especially in their lower and upper extremities. Fluids can collect around the heart and make it very difficult to breathe. Usually have to take some Kind of diuretic to decrease the swelling and darin off the fluids

Answer 2

sounds like a defect in the chamber of her heart -- not all blood/fluid is pumped out so they BACk UP in the chamber and collects water inside -- this is pretty dangerous.

they have to do a series of tests on her to find out where specifically, and why it is defective -- and fix it!

my cousin has had this before and she had a heart surgery -- it was successful and the problem never occurred again.
what happened was when she was young, she was born with a hole in the heart, something that is common among ALL newborns -- it is a bypass called ductus arteriosus that bypasses the blood from the right ventricle to the left atrium -- because when a baby is inside the mother's belly, the baby does not use his/her lungs so the artery bypasses the pulmonary artery. when they are born -- this artery goes away and the opening closes up. with my cousin, the hole remained there until she was about 14 when she had a strep throat -- which traveled through her blood and ended up in her heart and in her cranial nerve -- which caused a stroke. water also accumulated in her heart and that's why she had surgery to correct the problem.

i hope this has been informative. always listen to your gut feeling. if you feel like your sister is not getting enough medical attention -- try other hospitals who will. if this is not diagnosed and treated correctly, the results can be life-threatening.

Answer 3

Does your sister have some type of heart failure which is when the heart doesn't pump effectively and there is a back of fluid in the body..this can cause swelling to the arms and legs as well and cause shortness of breath. But remember the doctor is running tests and there can be many other things that can cause this..the best thing you can do is to make sure your sister is comfortable and not short of breath..watch for swelling and how much water she is putting out (urine) watch to see if she can lay down to rest or if she needs to sit up in a chair to breath..these are a few things to watch out for..of course if there are any concerns please bring them to the attention of her doctor. I wish her a speedy diagnosis and recovery.

Answer 4

Dont really know but my uncle just died last month because of this. He was also a diabetic and was a dialysis patient. During dialysis they have to cleanse his blood but would always have to take that extra fluid from around his heart later on at a hospital. They said the extra fluid was always from taking in too much fluids. Before he died they were still trying to figure out why the fluid kept building up around his heart. Ive had to call an ambulance for him on numerous occasions. Please tell your sis to never let it build up so much that its hard for her to breath. My uncle actually called an ambulance but it was too late they couldnt save him, his heart couldnt take the pressure. Tell your sis to please keep on top of these doctors to get to the bottom of this, i dont want another person to die because of neglect. Take care and God bless you for your concern for your sister!

Answer 5

Look in a medical dictionary under:
Pulmonary Edema

Answer 6

my fiance'sgran died that way. it was emphysema. i am very sorry, but the sufferer deteriorates very quickly, as the water keeps accumulating everywhere and eventually puts too much pressure on the heart. does she smoke? i'm really sorry, it must be hard :(

Answer 7

could it be congestive heart failure?