Hello ...

I have a question about acute (not chronic) viral cardiomyopathy.

I have had a puzzling course of events over the past two months, and
as I'm on Medicare, the sheer number of doctors I've had to see hasn't
helped.

I was exposed to Coxsackie B in August of 2008.  September 1 I was
rushed to the hospital with crushing left substernal chest pain, which
was relieved with sublingual nitroglycerin and profound shortness of
breath, orthopnea and classic paroxysmal dyspnea (PND).  I stayed in
the cardiac unit for three days, with intermittent chest pain.  I also
developed severe flu-type symptoms most GI.  Nuclear stress testing
and contrast CT were negative, and after three days I was discharged.
On the day of discharge I then developed the typical pleuritic chest
pain of Coxsackie B-this time in the right side of the chest, not the
left, which lasted another ten days.  A three day break with no
symptoms, then resumption of pleurisy, this time with fever, for an
additional ten days, put on doxycycline.  My blood tested positive for
Coxsackie B1 viral infection.

I had weakness and shortness of breath but no cardiac-type chest pain
until October 4, at which point my left retrosternal chest pain,
orthopnea and PND returned.  I was referred to cardiology.  It took
another month, but I was told an echocardiogram and angiogram were
eventually "essentially negative" or "not that bad."

I know Coxsackie can affect the heart, and I know that many cases of
viral myocarditis are asymptomatic.  Is it possible that my
retrosternal chest pain could have been caused by the Coxsackie virus,
without evidence of physical degeneration on subsequent tests?  If so,
I thankfully seem to be one of the lucky ones who turned around right
afterwards.

Thank you so much for any light you might shed on this.

best, Helen