A mother in New Jersey is speaking out about a potentially fatal heart condition that was diagnosed to her after she gave birth to a twin.
Danielle Cognetti said she was pregnant with a child, exercising as much as five days a week, until August, when she was taken to emergency work when anxiety became one of the vital signs. the child had.
“I remember the doctor telling me [that day], ‘We’re going to deliver you,’ “Cognetti, who received 11 rounds of in-vitro fertilization, told” Good Morning America. ” “It surprised me.”
Cognetti gave birth to her twin daughters, Chloe and Ava, through an emergency caesarean section that day, five weeks before her due date.
During delivery, Cognetti suffered complications, including hemorrhaging and developing preeclampsia, or very high blood pressure.
“I was in a hospital room for 24 hours on this [magnesium] drip, so I couldn’t get out of bed or move, “she remembered. They had to control blood pressure to make sure it didn’t catch on. “
Cognetti’s daughters were placed in the neonatal intensive care unit because of their premature birth.
“Nothing prepares you for the NICU,” Cognetti said. “No one is warning you what exactly that means, what that looks like, so that was also a surprise.”
Cognetti was released from the hospital about four days after giving birth, but soon suffered another shock when she developed symptoms of inflammation and difficulty breathing.
“The first night I was home, I was swollen and just had a big wind and I couldn’t breathe well,” she said. “Again, I influenced everything I just gave birth to and maybe this is some natural stuff.”
“The second day the swelling was very intense, but then it was my last straw that I woke up in the middle of the night to try to go to the bathroom and couldn’t I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t get to the bathroom and back, “she said.
Cognetti stopped going to the hospital that night, thinking the symptoms were directly related to her delivery, but she called her doctor in the morning.
“I was so windy that I couldn’t even find out my story of how I was feeling,” she said of the phone call. “The nurse said at the other end, ‘Go back to labor and delivery and we will see what is going on. ‘”
Cognetti was rushed to the hospital, but even then she said she suspected she had COVID-19, not a rare heart condition.
After undergoing a series of tests, Cognetti was diagnosed with peripartum cardiomyopathy, also known as postpartum cardiomyopathy, a rare but potentially fatal disease in which the heart muscle weakens. The disease usually occurs in the last month of pregnancy or up to five months after birth, according to the American Heart Association.
Cognetti’s twin pregnancy and the fact that she’s over 35, considered “advanced maternal age,” may put her at higher risk for the disease.
“It was a shock to my life,” Cognetti said of the review. “I couldn’t wrap my head around it. I didn’t understand how, you know, how I got heart failure.”
Cognetti said she was told by doctors that her heart was working at a 35% capacity at the time of her diagnosis.
“It’s always the heart of delivering that news,” said Dr. Anu Lala-Trindade, a cartographer at Mount Sinai in New York City, who treated Cognetti. “I came into her room and had to tell her that her heart muscle activity was weak.”
Between 1,000 and 1,300 women develop peripartum cardiomyopathy in the U.S. each year. It can be difficult to diagnose because its symptoms can “mimic those who are pregnant with a third-trimester baby,” according to the AHA.
The cause of peripartum cardiomyopathy is also unknown.
Lala-Trindade said Cognetti’s decision helped listen to her body and reach out to her doctor to save her life.
“I think women oftentimes avoid or reduce their symptoms as untrue, or perhaps in their head,” she said. “Shortness of breath, excessive swelling in the legs, inability to breathing while sleeping, these are things that should prompt medical attention. “
Depending on the severity of peripartum cardiomyopathy, some women may fully recover or stabilize medications, while others suffer from severe heart failure, according to the AHA.
Many women regain normal heart activity or stabilize medication. Some progress to severe heart failure that requires mechanical support or a heart transplant.
“It’s so important for us to remember that heart disease is the number 1 killer of women,” said Lala-Trindade, citing statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Cognetti was able to stabilize her peripartum cardiomyopathy through a strict schedule of medication and diet.
Doctors may recommend a diet with low salt and fluid restrictions to treat peripartum cardiomyopathy, according to the AHA. Women with the condition are also advised to avoid alcohol and smoking.
Cognetti said she fought hard in her recovery for her daughters, who came home from the NICU two weeks after giving birth and are now happy and healthy.
“I remember holding them and saying, and sometimes crying, and just saying that, you know, ‘I have to get better for these girls. Apparently, I can’t believe I fought so hard. hard for me to have this, and I’m not going to be healthy enough, or worse, I’m not going to be here for them, ‘”she said. you have to have two of them. “
Cognetti said she fears her heart disease could recur, but that she shares her story to help other women.
“If I could help another woman out there, or a number of women out there, please note, if she’s having a bad slam, and a shortness of breath to get help,” she said. Don’t conclude that this is just a side effect from a recent birth. Let a doctor make that decision for you because it could save your life. “