What is dilated cardiac myopathy?

Dilated Cardiomyopathy
Dilated, or congestive, cardiomyopathy is more common and occurs due to enlarging and stretching of the heart cavity, weakening the heart so it does not pump normally.
The heart muscle becomes weak and too flexible, preventing it pumping blood efficiently around the body.
Breathlessness results as fluid builds up in the lungs, congesting them. This is called left heart failure.
There may also be right heart failure, where fluid accumulates in the tissues and organs of the body, usually the legs and ankles, and the liver and abdomen.
The cause of the condition is unknown in many cases, but it can be caused by a virus, auto-immune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, excessive consumption of alcohol or, rarely, as a result of pregnancy - peri-partum cardiomyopathy.
Shortness of breath, palpitations, tiredness, swollen ankles and angina are common symptoms.
Blood clots often form because the blood is flowing more slowly through the heart.
Please see the webpages for more details on Dilated cardiomyopathy.

A heart condition...

it is the most common form of cardiomyopathy, roughly 90% of the cases in the US.

It usually has an age of onset before middle age, between 25 and 50. It's characterized by progressive dilation of the cardiac muscle (widening of the heart chambers) and contractile disfunction (inability to pump and contract correctly). Most of the causes are due to genetics and heredity (roughly 30-40%), but it can be caused by chronic alcohol abuse, an inflammatory response, and pregnancy.

It can lead to a number of more serious heart conditions, congestive heart failure, hypertrophy, and others. So if you have it, you should be in the care of a cardiologist for sure.

its when the muscles of the chamber walls of the heart weaken. This causes a worsening in the heart for the ability to function.

Question for you is this something your or someone has just been diagnosed with?
There are various causes of this or similiar cardio myopathy
dilated in a generic term.
My husband has had this for a # of years and has gone up and down with his condition. His has had heart failure class 4 and reduced with med's down to a constant class 2.
He does still manage to work full time, but has minor limitations, but has days where sleep is something he has to do.
he is on approx 12 different medications a day, he is 48 yrs old
and has had this condition for over 20 plus years.
His father and sister however; also had it so it is genetic for them and they did not live long, due to improper treatment and treatment options at that time. He has a enlarged heart of approx 9.5, which is exteremely rare. but I have been told a person heart can get as large as their body will accept and it will just move the other organs out of the way.
hopefully this will lead you some information, basically it is a enlarging of the heart that may also deteriorate the artries which will effect the blood flow to and from the heart, it also effect the hearts ability to pump the blood in and out, which again effect all these things, if you need more , please email me we have handled this disease for many years and he has tried many drugs, many test drugs you have to tell them what experience you have and if you feel you can handle the doses given, example when coreg first came out the graduated him during the test study of this drug and when it got to 50mg 2 x day he had weird out of body experience and now only taked 25mg 2 x day.
he could not handle the other, so you have to tell them, or they will let you take the doses designated and they do not know. good luck