My Heart Disease Has Copycats

Issue #36 of “What’s Her Problem?”: When several heart conditions look the same, how does the patient get the right diagnosis?

My ears perked up last fall at the Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Association’s Annual Patient Meeting. Many doctors have told me there’s no known connection between two of my primary medical diagnoses: Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) and autoimmune sensory neuropathy. That I am probably just unlucky to have both. But one of the presenters mentioned a correlation between neuropathy and a heart disease called Cardiac Amyloidosis....

This week’s questions:

Do you, or someone you know, have a disease that was difficult to diagnose because it closely resembled another disease or condition? What was your process of getting to the right diagnosis?

Related Posts:

https://whatsherproblem.substack.com/p/reflections-on-the-2025-hcma-annual?r=heamx

https://whatsherproblem.substack.com/p/weird-science?r=heamx

Links/References:

https://www.4hcm.org/amyloidosis

https://www.4hcm.org/amyloidosis

https://mcpress.mayoclinic.org/attr-cm/managing-the-heart-and-nerves-together-tips-for-living-with-attr-cm-and-neuropathy/

https://www.4hcm.org/danon

https://www.4hcm.org/rasopathies

https://www.4hcm.org/fabry

https://www.4hcm.org/pompe

https://www.4hcm.org/friedreich-s-ataxia

https://www.4hcm.org/prkag2

https://www.4hcm.org/how-is-hcm-diagnosed

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diagnostics/cardiac-pyp-scan

https://whatsherproblem.substack.com/p/reflections-on-the-2025-hcma-annual?r=heamx

https://www.4hcm.org/bighearts

https://www.4hcm.org/center-of-excellence

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit whatsherproblem.substack.com/subscribe