Question:
Cardiomyopathy after WLS

Has anyone that had Cardiomyopathy then WLS see an improvement in the disease after they lost weight?    — marcia5000 (posted on March 7, 2009)

March 7, 2009
I have had cardiomyopathy for 17 years. I had my wls in October 2007 and have lost 113.8 pounds. I just had my echo for the year and my ejection fraction number is now 66%. I know that I feel so much better and my heart is not having to compensate for the excess weight either. It is working so much easier. Last year my number was 54% so it has gotten stronger this past year. I started out with a EF number of 19% and more dead than alive. It has gone up and then gone down over the years but never has it been as good as it is now. Like my cardiologist said when I talked to him about the wls, it isn't going to repair the damage that has happened but it is going to make the future much better and it has. My heart is much better than it would have been if there had been no wls.
   — Brenda R.

March 8, 2009
Oh boy, I was happy to see your question because I have something to say in answer to it. I have dilated cardiomyopathy. I was diagnosed at 23 (probably had it for a while before that)and my ejection fraction was 15%. 9 years of medicating, it only went up to 36%. Not bad but that was after 9 long years. I had the lap band put in and lost over a 100 pounds. I had a muga scan a month and a half b4 the band and was at the 36%. A year later I had an echo done. Over the course of that year, I had to have my meds lowered several times because as the weight came off, my heart function was improving and the meds were too strong. Now within the first year of being banded, my ejection fraction went from 36% to being between 50 & 55%! That is considered the low range of normal. I am almost on no meds. I still have the condition but my heart function has improved so much. I can take on a flight of stairs in no time and take a high impact exercise class. In fact, because of the band and the subsequent weight loss, I was finally able to conceive and cleared by doctors to proceed with the pregnancy. I'm due in October and so far so good! As to the person who posted an answer before me, 66% is above the normal range and that person should be careful because above the normal range for ejection fraction means a rigid heart and is just as bad as an ejection fraction below normal. 50-65% is the normal range.
   — ImanAbdulaziz