Shortness of breath, fatigue, chest pain, and lack of energy can be signs of myocarditis. The disease is an inflammatory process that affects the heart. A person can contract the disease through viruses, bacteria, fungi, or drugs and alcoholic beverages. Myocarditis can be confused with stress, does not choose age, and affects men more often.
The cardiologist from the National Heart Institute (INC), Stephan Lachtermacher, warns about the duration and severity of the disease’s symptoms. “Even in a more acute form, earlier than two weeks, if you interpret that the patient is very serious, that they cannot breathe, get out of bed, and tire even from combing their hair with small efforts. A flu-like condition that drags on and does not heal in one or two weeks while maintaining that picture, this patient should seek medical assistance.”
Lachtermacher informs about the tests that diagnose the disease. “From laboratory tests, imaging tests such as, for example, an echocardiogram, a chest X-ray, electrocardiographic tests, the electrocardiogram, a cardiac MRI, and if the colleague finds it appropriate, the individual may even undergo a cardiac biopsy to determine that the heart is diseased.”
Source: blog.saude.gov.br, by Alexandre Penido