Some points to keep in mind when it comes to infective endocarditis:
1. Your heart is the engine of your body. It pumps your blood, and keeps your body healthy and strong. It is a strong instrument, but requires careful attention and maintenance in order to say that way. Diet and exercise play a large role in this process, but so does learning about different ways in which your heart can be damaged.
2. Infective endocarditis is a heart disease that does much damage to the heart and can result in the death of the sufferer. Its symptoms include fever-like problems such as night sweats, chills, fever, rash, and insomnia. Chest pains are included, and other signs of heart trouble such as numb limbs and unusual swelling. You can even develop red spots on your hands and feet and hurtful red sores on your fingertips. These symptoms are bad enough taken separately, but if more than one occur you may have a real situation your hands. It is important, therefore, that you see a doctor as soon as possible.
3. Infective endocarditis can occur even in someone who eats healthily and exercises often. It usually enters the body through dental or some other surgical procedure.
4. What happens is, bacteria and microorganisms enter the bloodstream. Microorganisms are usual to other parts of your body, such as your mouth and urinary tract. But microorganisms are unusual in the bloodstream, and can lead to the symptoms described above.
5. Sometimes, the microorganisms can get in the bloodstream and not harm the person who has them. But it is possible for these microorganisms to attach themselves to the heart. When they do this, awful things can occur, such as irregular heartbeat, blood clots, and heat attack, all of which can lead to death. Irregular heartbeat and other unusual signs that your heart may be having trouble are symptoms of infective endocarditis.
6. When the microorganisms attach themselves harmfully to the heart, the body immediately responds. When the body senses symptoms of infective endocarditis, it sends and army of immune cells and platelets to combat the microorganisms. They do this by forming into matter that protects the heart and heals the heart from the microorganisms.
7. Occasionally, however, this safety system backfires. The body senses symptoms of infective endocarditis, sends the army of cells, the cells form into matter, and – the microorganisms become trapped under that matter and sprout into something doctors call vegetation. This vegetation is composed of clumps of matter that can block the bloodstream and keep the healthy blood from flowing to the body like it needs to. It is then that you get the strong, hurtful, fever-like symptoms, the heart disease symptoms, and the weird ones such as red spots.
8. The people who are most in danger of having symptoms of infective endocarditis include those who were born with heart problems, or suffered from disorders as children that damaged their hearts. The symptoms can occur in people who already have valve damage, or who have recently had a valve replaced.
9. If you have symptoms of infective endocarditis, it is important that you see your doctor as soon as possible. He or she can correctly diagnose you and begin the process, including medications, of healing your body from harmful bacteria trapped on your heart. The symptoms, again, include rash, fever, sleeplessness, heavy breathing, chest pains, weight loss, red spots on the hands and feet, and an irregular heart beat. Combine these with heart damage received as a child, or recent heart troubles that required surgery, and there’s a pretty good chance that your symptoms are those of infective endocarditis.