Myocarditis and Night Sweats

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  1. Physical exam to assess any symptoms that you have, especially to look for ‘myocarditis and heart’ related symptoms.
  2. Electrocardiogram test. Your doctor can check your heart function by analyzing electrical activity of your heart. In electrocardiogram, some electrodes are taped on the skin to detect the heart’s electrical activity and then recorded as waves to provide information of the electrical forces in the several parts of the heart.
  3. An echocardiogram, a procedure that involves sound waves to provide pictures of the heart and its structure. Sometimes it is used to help analyze blood flow.
  4. Imaging tests, especially chest x-ray. In less common cases, a cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may also be required.
  5. Other tests are blood tests (to help detect damage in the myocardium or to look for antibodies against viruses that might signal myocarditis-related infection) and a heart biopsy if necessary (to remove small sample tissue of the heart or myocardium so your doctor can closely observe the sample in the lab).

Since pining down the diagnosis of myocarditis can be tricky, always work with your doctor for correct diagnosis – don’t make conclusion on your own!

Treatment depends on what’s causing the disease and how far the inflammation is affecting your heart. Typically, having adequate rest and medications to soothe the symptoms are the starting point. More aggressive treatment may be required if it has become advanced. In worst scenario, heart transplant may be needed if other treatments fail to work.

The good news, myocarditis often heals completely without leaving serious after effects. But sometimes it may come back – the risk of this recurrence increases if you have compromised body’s immune system or chronic inflammatory disorder (see more in this post)!

And even though if your night sweats are not related to any heart problems, it should be consulted to find the underlying cause since it could be a sign of serious medical condition. Speak with your doctor for more advice!

Citations /references:

  1. http://www.aafp.org/afp/2003/0301/p1019.html
  2. https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/Heart-infection-can-pose-a-medical-mystery

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