Hello, I am a 25 year old male, I am a university student and I work as a gym instructor/ personal trainer, I would say that I am an intermediate level lifter( if it is of an relevance to my case to present the weights of my lifts please let me know.) and I also play rugby twice a week and practice Jiu jutsu at least once a week, I am very active and its quiet rare that I have a day off anything, I also was diagnosed 2 months ago with Complex PTSD(previously it was assumed that I was suffering from major depressive disorder) and take medications (bupropion 300mg for treating my depression, mirtazapine 7.5mg for sleep and Quetiapine 50mg also for sleep) and recieve therapy in accordance.
I have been diagnosed recently with acute Myocarditis due to a bacterial infection, caused by streptococcus.
It all started on sunday night 11/12/22. I came back from a lifting session and after several hours I went to sleep. on 4:00 AM I started experiencing a fever so I took 400mg of Paracetamol to ease the fever, the next day however i Woke up with a sharp pain in my throat, I went to see a doctor, they checked me for COVID-19 however the results were negative, so i did a strep test and I had developed acute tonsillitis by that time.
I started recieving antibiotics (Penicillins) as a treatment, I continued to display acute symptoms as fatigue, chills, excruciating headache and a high fever (39.5C) by wednesday morning the tonsillitis was passing rapidly and I was able to drink more and eat a little bit (on the previous days it was impossible the only thing i was able to eat were popsickles and soups that are highly proccessed unfortunately due to my inability to prepare food), but on the same day i had started experiencing strange chest pains in the morning and in the evening and they werent passing unless i took 400mg of ibuprofen or any other NSAID for the matter. I had told the doctor and the nurse and they told me it is likely just muscle pain and that i should continue to rest and avoid physical activity, especially because they knew I train rigorously.
I refrained from training on thrusday regardless of the fact that I felt fit to train, but the pains returned but I did not give them much thought because the doctors told me there is nothing to worry about and the fact that the pain responds to NSAIDs is a good sign that it has nothing to do with my heart. however on friday I was supposed to go on several errands for the weekends and meet my family but the pain returned again a i knew something was up. I asked the doctor for blood checks and an EKG/ECG test. at the local hospital. Naturally the results were not good at all, my troponin levels were high and the ECG was displaying abnormal rythms (arrhythmias) in my heart, to further investigate the cardiologist performed an echocardiogram and he was incredibly worried and he made me very anxious, then I was told by the cardiologist that I MUST undergo a diagnostic catheterization immediately.
During the test it was displayed that my coronary arteries are not blocked and healthy. Naturally. and the doctors came to a conclusion that I am suffering from Acute Myocarditis, I was in the ICU for 2 nights although I had no pain anymore and felt normal, then I was sent to the cardiology ward, the morning after I went to perform a Cardiac MRI scan, which further proved that I am suffering from Myocarditis, I remained one more night in the Cardiology ward and was to be sent home on the 20/12/22. however I was broken and became very depressed when I heard that I must refrain from any tpe of physical activity from 3 to 6 months. and they told me of the possibility that I had developed Myocarditis months ago and I did not know about it, and that it may cause irrevesible damage to my heart ( scar tissue) which would limit me from training like I used to, the doctors seeing that I was very heart broken (ehm.) they offered me to stay in the psychiatric ward to recieve psychological therapy and perhaps medication that might ease off my anxiety. I was ordered to go meet my family doctor so i can recieve an appointment for an additional echocardiogram test. Currently I am recieving these medications for my heart Colchicine 0.5 mg twice per day, Bisoprolol 1.25mg once per day, Tritouel 1.25mg once per day. I am currently hospitalized in the Psychiatric ward to recieve treatment for my mental health and in addition to the mentioned medications I listed I recieve bupropion 300mg for treating my depression, mirtazapine 7.5mg for sleep and Quetiapine 50mg also for sleep, I had asked my doctors if these medications actually worsen my medical condition however they reassured me that they are completely safe, I done some superfical reading myself, and found that there is some data that actually present that these medications do have a possibility of causing arrhythmias. could you please let me know what is your opinion regarding that?
I am sorry for the long explanation but i thought if i provide as much info and details i could it might help you evaluate my situation better. I am currently extremely anxious regarding the fact that some people develop complications due to Myocarditis and I am afraid i might be one of those rare cases, which would mean that my whole desire and ability to train intensely would be sabotaged however many doctors told me that it is highly unlikely. I was considering of joining the rugby national team in my country, or try to complete in local jiu jutsu/ judo competitions.
the general advice is to refrain from intense exercise between 3 and 6 months if diagnosed with myocarditis I have also read several articles superfically, that say the same thing, could you please let me know what is your opinion on that?
Thank you very,
and sorry for the long post.