An e-commerce guy worked late to sell goods and contracted viral myocarditis, which almost cost him his life...

"After I am discharged from the hospital, I will definitely change my work and lifestyle and never stay up late to sell goods again." Recently, the Third Ward of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine of Hunan Provincial People's Hospital admitted a 20-year-old patient with severe viral myocarditis. Thanks to timely treatment, the patient has been successfully discharged from the hospital.

Mr. Wang, a 20-year-old Shandong guy, runs an e-commerce business in Changsha. Due to work reasons, he has to work until 3 a.m. every day before he can rest, and he works up to 16-17 hours a day. Due to the high work pressure and little rest time in the early stage of entrepreneurship, his usual way of relieving stress is to do a 10-kilometer long-distance run and drink with friends.

10 days ago, Mr. Wang felt a little dizzy and weak but he didn't care and insisted on running a 10-kilometer long-distance run. As a result, he was sent to Hunan Provincial People's Hospital by 120 for treatment due to severe chest pain the next day. After a series of examinations, it was finally confirmed that he had viral myocarditis. After a period of treatment, Mr. Wang's severe chest pain symptoms gradually eased, and all indicators returned to normal. He has now been successfully discharged from the hospital.

Why did a young and strong man suddenly develop heart disease? Zhang Yi, chief physician of the Department of Cardiology at Hunan Provincial People's Hospital , said that viral myocarditis is a very common type of heart disease. It is a localized or diffuse acute or chronic inflammatory lesion of the myocardium caused by viral infection. The most common viral infections are bacteria, coxsackie virus, echovirus, adenovirus, influenza virus, etc. It can occur at any age and is more common in children and young people.

When the human body is overly tired, undergoes strenuous exercise, or has a weakened immune system, the virus first enters the human body through the respiratory or digestive tract. Uncontrolled viruses may spread to the heart through the blood circulation and replicate in large numbers in myocardial cells, causing myocardial cell dissolution, necrosis, and inflammatory infiltration, destroying myocardial structure, and damaging small blood vessels in the myocardium, aggravating myocardial ischemia and necrosis. Ultimately, the body is induced to produce anti-myocardial antibodies that attack its own myocardial tissue.

Zhang Yi reminded that children and young people are under great pressure from studying or working. Even if they are healthy and have no underlying diseases, they should still pay attention to it. Especially during the cold period, they should reduce strenuous exercise. If they have symptoms such as chest tightness, chest pain, and difficulty breathing, they should seek medical attention in time. Effective prevention should also be done in daily life:

1. Maintain a regular schedule, strengthen your physical fitness, improve your immunity, do not stay up late, and ensure adequate sleep.

2. Get enough rest and avoid fatigue. Once you experience flu symptoms such as dizziness and fatigue, you need to get enough rest and avoid excessive fatigue and strenuous physical exercise to prevent increasing the burden on your heart.

3. Balanced nutrition and reasonable diet: eat more fresh fruits and vegetables, supplement vitamins, eat a light diet, and quit smoking and drinking as soon as possible.

4. Prevent infection and take good protection. For people with poor resistance or who are prone to colds, reduce going out, avoid staying in public places for a long time, wear masks, wash hands frequently and other protective measures to avoid contact with various sources of infection.

Hunan Medical Chat Special Author: Li Dandan and Wu Juan, Department of Cardiology, Hunan Provincial People's Hospital

Follow @湖南医聊 to get more health science information!

(Edited by YT)