Not a surprise but not fun to have affirmed, repeatedly. This is my current focus in the interest of … drumroll … longevity! Life has definitely kicked the challenges up a notch here with my health.

“CFS Compensates for Idiopathic Cardiomyopathy

“Let me first of all define heart failure. There are two kinds of heart failure. There’s the kind that any cardiologist can diagnose in about a minute. That you do NOT have. Which is why cardiologists missed this. What you have is Compensated Idiopathic Cardiomyopathy.” [Idiopathic: cause unknown; Cardiomyopathy: structural or functional disease of heart muscle] “And your primary means of compensation—now this is the big twist—are you ready? Have you got your seat belt on? The primary methodology for compensation for this disorder is in fact CFS itself.”

Patient responds: “I see. So, this is the body’s way of saving us from dying of cardiomyopathy.”

Dr. Cheney: Yes. From dying of cardiomyopathy.”

Taken from this link. And Dr. Cheney is on my list of CFS specialists to visit. (Long gap in posts! Life has been…challenging! CFS has been cruel!)

So CFS is nature’s way of saying, to some of us with CFS, go lie down and save your heart. This is the diagnosis my grandmother should have had. Her heart gave out amidst doctors’ decrees: “There’s nothing wrong!” And to this day, rare are those cardiologists who have a clue what’s going on with the heart of a CFS sufferer. Maddening…