Question:
I have damage, will surgery and weight loss help the strain on the heart?

I did Phen-Fen for 9 months and have damage. Not severe but moderate damage. Will my chances for being approved increase because of the potential strain that being overweight has on my heart? I am down a little on weight right now but I can't live off of carrots and celery forever.    — Beth J. (posted on December 12, 2002)

December 12, 2002
Hi Beth: Before surgery I had cardiomyopathy which was controlled my medicine (5 of them). My doctor thinks I had heart damage because as a very small child (18 months) I had an over active thyroid and it used to put me into heart failure. They didn't find my thyroid problem until I was 8. Which means in plain english, I had damage to the left ventricle. I also had arrhythmia problems too (bad palpatations). In order to have the surgery I had to get clearance from my heart doc and I had to have a stress echo & EKG done. The anesthesiologist put an IV directly into my artery to monitor my heart during surgery and insisted I spend the first night in ICU (my surgeon didn't think it was necessary but didn't want to argue with him about it). I had no problems what so ever with my heart. I'm happy to say 7 months later I'm down 99.5 pounds and I very seldom have any palpatations anymore. I'm also off all heart and blood pressure meds. My PCP tells me that my cardiomyopathy is gone. So all in all, yes, your chances of getting surgery to help your heart problem is increased ten fold. Never in a million years did I think I'd be able to come off any heart medicines, or not constantly have to worry about having a heart attack. This surgery can do wonders for your medical problems. If you have any other questions, please feel fee to e-mail me.
   — Donna W.