Coping With Endocarditis

Hi to everybody.Its very interesting to read stories about endocarditis. In 1990 aged 20,I was a young man in Liverpool UK. At the time I was actively using drugs which led to introvinious [intravenous] drug misuse. I was 12 stone & I started to feel unwell,aches pains,breathlessness etc. I thought it was the side affects of the drugs, I lost weight rapidly & people started saying you look a very sick man, being as arrogant as I was I thought Im fine Ill beat this.

4 weeks later I was 8 stone & I ended up living in a derelict building for 2 days & I could burly walk,I was found in the garden of that derelict house lying in the snow.I ended up in intensive care, I weighed 7 stone.I was diagnosed with Septacimic bacterial pnuemonia endocarditis. I spent 3 weeks in intensive care,then I was moved to isolation for 3 weeks & my family had to wear bin bag clothing in case I caught infection,then I was moved to the ward,altogether I spent 9 weeks in hospital undergoing intensive antibiotic treatment,tubed up & physiotherapy.I eventually made a recovery,I was never the same after this illness.

the endocarditis left me with a permanent damaged tricuspid heart valve & for the next 10 years I was an out patient & had regular visits to hospital for scans of my tricuspid valve & I was leading a good healthy life. In 1999 I started to feel unwell again,at one of my routine heart appointments a scan revealed my tricuspid valve had worsened so my cardiologist put me forward for open heart surgery. I was ill again,my body was in a permanent depressed state from head to toe. In 2001 aged 31 I had my tricuspid valve replaced through open heart surgery at Broadgreen hospital Liverpool uk.I made a full recovery from my op.Im now 38 & Im more healthy than I ever was in my 20s.Ive not used drugs for 13 years & Im now in my 3rd year at university studying a degree.I remember those dark days of endocarditis,money cant buy health. Im very gratefull to al the medical team who treated me for giving me a second chance.Has anybody else out there had endocarditis through drug misuse? Regards, Lee