Your heart is at the center of your cardiovascular system. Your heart is the organ that pumps blood to all of the cells in your body through your body’s blood vessels. Your blood has oxygen that your cells have to have.

Cardiomyopathy literally means “heart muscle disease”. It refers to the deterioration of the working of your myocardium (heart muscle).  This medical condition hinders your heart’s ability to pump blood.

There are three major types of cardiomyopathy. They are dilated cardiomyopathy, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and restrictive cardiomyopathy.

Dilated cardiomyopathy is the most common form of this disease. It is when your heart’s main pumping chamber becomes dilated (enlarged), and its pumping ability becomes impaired.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a form of cardiomyopathy where your heart muscle (myocardium) becomes hypertrophied or abnormally thick. The result is that your heart may have a harder time pumping blood. This disease can also affect the electrical system of your heart.

Restrictive cardiomyopathy is the rarest kind of cardiomyopathy. It is a disease where the walls of your ventricles (lower chambers of your heart) become abnormally rigid. They do not have the flexibility to expand as they fill with blood. With the passage of time, restrictive cardiomyopathy can cause your heart to lose its ability to pump blood properly. This can then lead to heart failure.

You may experience several signs and symptoms that may be an indication of restrictive cardiomyopathy. These include:

• Fatigue
• Swelling of your ankles and feet
• Poor exercise tolerance
• A persistent cough
• Swelling of your abdomen
• Difficulty breathing when you are lying flat, at night and especially with exertion
• Weight gain
• Chest pain or pressure
• Fainting
• Palpitations (fluttering in your chest because of abnormal heart rhythms)
• Bloating, nausea and poor appetite that is related to retention of fluid.

You or a loved one may have restrictive cardiomyopathy. Restrictive cardiomyopathy and/or complications that have resulted from this disease may be the reason why you or your loved one is disabled. It may be preventing you or your loved one from working.

You may need assistance if this is the case. You may need financial help.

You or your loved one may be intending to apply for the financial assistance that you need from the Social Security Administration by applying for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits because of the disability caused by restrictive cardiomyopathy and/or complications that have resulted from this disease. You or your loved one may have already taken this step, and your application was denied by the Social Security Administration.

If you or your loved one plans on reapplying or appealing the denial, you really ought to consider this important fact carefully. The fact of the matter is that people who have a disability lawyer standing with them like the one you will find at Social Security Home are approved more often than people who are not represented by a disability attorney.

Your heart is at the center of your cardiovascular system. Your heart is the organ that pumps blood to all of the cells in your body through your body’s blood vessels. Your blood has oxygen that your cells have to have.

Cardiomyopathy literally means “heart muscle disease”. It refers to the deterioration of the working of your myocardium (heart muscle).  This medical condition hinders your heart’s ability to pump blood.

Dilated cardiomyopathy is the most common form of this disease. It is when your heart’s main pumping chamber becomes dilated (enlarged), and its pumping ability becomes impaired.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a form of cardiomyopathy where your heart muscle (myocardium) becomes hypertrophied or abnormally thick. The result is that your heart may have a harder time pumping blood. This disease can also affect the electrical system of your heart.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is known by other names. It is also referred to as idiopathic hypertrophic subaortic stenosis, hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy and asymmetric septal hypertrophy.

Fortunately, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is rare. It is not as common as dilated cardiomyopathy. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy affects about 1 in 500 people in the United States.

People of all ages can have hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. However, younger people are more prone to have a serious form of this disease. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy affects men and women equally.

Genetic mutations are what often cause hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Doctors believe these genetic mutations cause your heart muscle to become abnormally thick. Another factor that may play a role in the development of this disease is an abnormal arrangement of your heart’s muscle fibers. This can play a part in causing an irregular heartbeat.

There are some signs and symptoms that may be an indication of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Some of these are:

• Hypertension (high blood pressure)
• Shortness of breath
• Shortness of breath while lying down
• Chest pain
• Reduced activity tolerance (fatigue)
• Dizziness
• Light-headedness that happens especially after exercise or activity
• Palpitations (a sense of fluttering, pounding or rapid heartbeats)
• Fainting that especially occurs during activity or exercise.

You or a loved one may have hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. This disease and/or complications resulting from it may be causing you or your loved one’s disability. It may be why you or your loved one cannot work and need financial assistance?

You or your loved one may intend to apply for the financial help that you need from the Social Security Administration by applying for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits because of the disability caused by hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and/or complications resulting from this disease. You may have already done this and been turned down.

If you or your loved one plans on appealing the denial by the Social Security Administration, consider this. People with a disability lawyer like the one you will find at Social Security Home are approved more often than people who are not represented by a disability attorney.

Cardiomyopathy literally means “heart muscle disease”. Cardiomyopathy is the deterioration of the function of your actual heart muscle (myocardium).  This medical condition impairs your heart’s ability to pump blood.

Dilated cardiomyopathy is the most common form of this disease. It occurs when your heart’s main pumping chamber becomes dilated (enlarged), and its pumping ability becomes impaired.

Anyone at any age can be affected by dilated cardiomyopathy. This includes children and infants. However, it is most common in middle age.

Dilated cardiomyopathy is caused by the failure of your left ventricle, which is your heart’s main pumping chamber, to pump blood like a healthy heart does. What causes this to happen is not known in many cases. On the other hand, there are several things that can cause dilated cardiomyopathy. Some of these are:

• Cocaine or alcohol abuse
• A family history of cardiomyopathy
• Autoimmune illnesses that affect your heart like rheumatoid arthritis
• Coronary artery disease
• Certain medications
• Trace elements like arsenic, mercury or lead
• Inherited disorders like muscular dystrophy
• Hypertension (high blood pressure) that is not controlled
• Infections that affect your heart muscle, such as Lyme disease or Chagas disease
• Heart rhythm difficulties like tachycardia or atrial fibrillation.

At first, you may not experience any signs or symptoms with dilated cardiomyopathy. Eventually, when this disease causes cardiac arrhythmias or heart failure you will probably have signs and symptoms. These may include:

• Ascites (swelling of your abdomen)
• Nausea and lack of appetite
• Palpitations (the sensation of fluttering, pounding or rapid heartbeats)
• Weakness and fatigue
• Wheezing or coughing that is ongoing
• Decrease in alertness or problems with concentration
• Dyspnea (shortness of breath) when you are lying down or active
• Sudden weight gain from retaining fluid
• Edema (swelling) in your feet, ankles and legs
• Dizziness, fainting or lightheadedness
• A reduction in your ability to exercise
• A failure to thrive in children
• Nocturia (increase in urination at night).

You or a loved one may have dilated cardiomyopathy. This disease and/or complications resulting from it may be why you are disabled and in need of financial help.

You or your loved one may have applied for financial assistance from the Social Security Administration by applying for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits because of the disability caused by dilated cardiomyopathy and/or complications resulting from it. Were you denied?

If you or your loved one appeals the denial by the Social Security Administration, consider this carefully. People represented by a disability attorney like the one you will find at socialsecurityhome.com are approved more often than people who are without a disability lawyer.

There are three major types of cardiomyopathy:

§  Dilated cardiomyopathy is when your heart’s main pumping chamber becomes dilated (enlarged), and its pumping ability becomes impaired.  It is the first and most common form of cardiomyopathy.

§  Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is where there is abnormal growth or thickening of your heart muscle. In particular, it affects the muscle of your left ventricle. This causes your heart to stiffen, and the size of your pumping chamber may shrink interfering with your heart’s ability to pump blood.

§  Restrictive cardiomyopathy is when your heart muscle becomes rigid and less elastic.  This interferes with the filling and expansion of your heart’s ventricles with blood between contractions or heartbeats.

Some people do not experience any effects in the early stages of cardiomyopathy.  Signs and symptoms do usually appear as cardiomyopathy progresses. When cardiomyopathy does affect you, the signs and symptoms are like those of congestive heart failure. Some of these are:

§  Irregular heart rhythm

§  Distention of your abdomen with fluid

§  Breathlessness with exertion or even during rest

§  Dizziness, fainting and lightheadedness

§  Fatigue

§  Swelling of your lower extremities.

These effects produced by cardiomyopathy usually grow worse with time. For some people this deterioration accelerates rapidly, while others reach a plateau and stabilize for a long time. For some people with dilated cardiomyopathy, the disorder may actually get better.

Obviously, the effects caused by cardiomyopathy can reach a point where you are unable to work. Cardiomyopathy may be the cause of you or your loved one’s disability.

If this is true, you or your loved one may need help. You may need financial assistance.

Who will you turn to for this financial help? Where will it come from? Who can you look to?

Have you or your loved one considered applying for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits from the Social Security Administration because of the disability caused by cardiomyopathy? Have you or your loved one already done this and been denied by the Social Security Administration?

You may be wondering what to do next? Do you have any recourse? What options are open to you?

One step that you or your loved one can take is to appeal the denial by the Social Security Administration. If you decide to do this, here is something important for you to think about.

You or your loved one is going to need a qualified disability lawyer like the one you will find at socialsecurityhome.com to represent you in what can prove to be a long and exasperating process. This is true because people who have a proven disability attorney on their side are approved more often than those people who do not have a lawyer.

Do not delay. Contact the reliable disability attorney at socialsecurityhome.com, today.