I was recently diagnosed with heart failure, the cardiologist says my heart works at about 30% and this is common after a triplet pregnancy and that it could improve with time. My heart function did not improve at my last echo cardiogram. Has anyone else experienced heart problems and if so how long did it take for you to recover? Also did anyone experience fatigue or side effects from the meds? Thanks Bridget GGG born Dec 18th at 30 weeks

Hi Bridget,

I am sorry I do not have any advice but just wanted to tell you that we're wishing you the very best and hope you recover very soon.

Thinking of you,

Karin
BGG @35 weeks, 1/14/11

Hi Bridget, My name is Kristen and I have three year old triplets. I don’t visit the site but occasionally now that my girls are older but coincidently came here today and saw your post.

I had peri-partum cardiomyopathy after the birth of my girls. I had ejection fraction of 20% while I was in hospital. I stayed in ICU for a week then they were able to stabilize me to get me to my own room then home. I have not found this to be “common” as I have posted your very same questions on this board and have only gotten one or two responses. My cardiologist also says it was purely coincidental that this happened to me. My OB was a little more inclined to blame the complication on a triplet pregnancy. I was back at about 45% EF at about 6 weeks out and then every visit to the cardiologist thereafter I had a fully recovered EF and my EKG’s returned to normal.

I felt extremely fatigued for a while. It definitely scared me with the prospect of bringing home triplets (mine stayed in hospital for 4-5 weeks – a blessing in disguise for me to recover as much as possible). Have you seen Beaches? The girl in that movie had a viral form of cardiomyopathy and sometimes I felt like her! By about eight weeks past diagnosis I was feeling like I was gaining some energy back and it steadily got better and better until one day I realize I felt normal again. I am completely recovered and now exercise and live a normal life. I was on a beta blocker, ACE inhibitor, and lasix to keep the fluid down when I went home. I got off lasix soon after coming home. The cardiologist told me I could discontinue the ACE inhibitor after a couple months when I complained about feeling dizzy and weak. I stayed on the beta blocker for 2-2.5 years and now take nothing.

Good luck with your recovery. I hope things progress for you like it did for me! Please email if you have any questions - kbmagee@gmail.com. There is a support group for peri-partum cardiomyopathy – amothersheart.org. I visited that site for a while too and gained some valuable knowledge. Oh, also, I’ve been told not to get pregnant again because I have a 40% chance of relapsing. I feel completely blessed and complete with three girls so that is not a problem for me!!

Kristen

Mom to 31.4 week GGG triplets born 11/2/08
Grace 3.13
Julia 2.8
Kate 3.4