Re: Enlarged/Swollen Heart

 What causes swollen or enlarged heart? My first brother in law died from this and now my 2nd brother in law is diagnosed with this. Needless to say, I'm scared for my husband. I really don't know their exact histories. But the first drank quite heavily which started during his divorce but never smoke. The second never drank but smokes. Both have dry nagging cough which the doctor said is the side effect of the enlarged heart irritating the lungs. This was what the family members told me. Hv, what do you think? And what can one do to prevent this?

The most common cause for an enlarged heart is excessive vascular resistance.  This makes the heart work harder increasing the size.  An easy way to understand this is look at how muscles develop.  As we exercise the muscles work harder and they enlarge.  The heart is one big muscle.  So when it has to work harder to pump blood it enlarges.

Some of the things that can contribute to this are narrowing or constriction of the blood vessels, heart valve damage, arrhythmias, severe anemia or iron overload and previous heart attack.  Alcoholism and smoking can contribute to an enlarged heart.

Being that there are so many causes there are different ways to address it.  Magnesium malate or citrate can help by relaxing the blood vessels and helping to reduce plaque formation.  Sterol sources, such as jiaogulan also help relax blood vessels reducing vascular resistance.  The herb coleus forskohlii helps slow the heart, strengthen contractions, reduce blood pressure  making it great for arrhythmias as well and also supports the thyroid, which if low can also contribute to an enlarged heart.  Trimethylglycine (TMG) is also great for the cardiovascular system.  Lecithin helps to clean out the arteries reducing vascular resistance.