Amyloidosis is a rare condition that used to almost always be fatal, but doctors are finally making progress in treating it.
"I had so many symptoms, and I really didn't think they all connected," Pam Rafferty said.
Rafferty had a thick tongue, leg swelling, frothy urine, carpal tunnel syndrome, and then...
"I started having heart palpitations," Rafferty said.
She had atrial fibrillation, an abnormal heart rhythm. But her cardiologist noticed something else was abnormal - the rapidly increasing muscle thickness in her heart, a sign of a condition called amyloidosis. It's rare - only 10 cases for every 1 million people.
"Their hearts become thickened over time, which leads to stiffening of the heart and heart failure," Allegheny Health Network cardiologist Dr. Travis Wilson said.