WHAT HAPPENS TO SOMEONE WITH CARDIOMYOPATHY?
A Cardiomyopathy (something wrong with the muscle layer, or myocardium, of the heart), usually takes one of two forms. In one form, a portion of the heart muscle enlarges, a condition known as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. As the heart muscle wall enlarges and overgrows, the heart itself may be slightly enlarged, but the main pumping chambers — the ventricles — have less room to fill with blood because of the thickened muscle layer. If the thickened part includes the divider between the ventricles (septum), ejection of blood from the heart to the rest of the body can be impaired. In the second form, dilated cardiomyopathy, the myocardium dilates and expands. The ventricles thin out and become floppy. The heart is enlarged, sometimes markedly, but its function is compromised by the abnormal, thinned muscle layer. In some people, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy becomes dilated cardiomyopathy after a time. In either type of cardiomyopathy, if the problem is bad enough, a condition known as h
