What Does Heart Failure Feel Like

How Much Water Should You Drink If You Have Congestive Heart Failure

Fluid Restriction is a term that refers to a restriction on the flow of You should drink no more than 2 quarts of water a day. This will aid in preventing fluid retention in your body. preventing your body from storing water Exercise It is important to exercise according to your doctors instructions.

Can A 90 Year Old Recover From Heart Failure

As a clinical condition, yes, heart disease cannot be completely eliminated for patients of any age. However, we have treatments that can make it better. Its a progressive illness, and its not something we can cure, but we can slow it down. It can progress so slowly so it doesnt seem like its progressing at all.

When Should I Call An Ambulance

If you have any of the symptoms below, call triple zero immediately and ask for an ambulance. If calling triple zero does not work on your mobile phone, try calling 112.

• chest pain thats severe or worsening, or has lasted longer than 10 minutes
• chest pain that feels heavy, crushing or tight
• other symptoms, such as breathlessness, nausea, dizziness or a cold sweat
• pain in your jaw or down your left arm

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What Are The Warning Signs Of A Heart Attack

Heart attacks are an emergency. Keep watch for these common symptoms so you can help yourself or others.

• Chest pain. This could manifest as chest pressure, squeezing, discomfort, or the feeling of an elephant on your chest, Dr. Gulati says.
• Arm pain. This includes your jaw, shoulder, and arm, and is usually on the left side it could be localized to one spot.
• Stomach problems. This includes indigestion, heartburn, acid, nausea, stomach pain, or reflux that doesnt correlate with a meal, especially in the case of silent heart attacks, Dr. Osborne says.
• Lightheadedness. If youre dizzy, light-headed, or passing out, thats a sign of an emergency.
• Sweating. This typically manifests as a cold sweat, but any sudden excess sweating without warning is a symptom.
• Shortness of breath. This includes difficulty taking a deep breath or asthma-like symptoms.
• Fatigue. Your heart struggling to keep you alive can make you very tired very fast.

Tests To Identify Heart Failure

You may be asked by your doctor to have some heart tests to check on your heart and the severity of your heart failure. These tests may include:

• Blood tests
• Chest X-ray. Chest X-ray shows the size of your heart and whether there is fluid build-up around the heart and lungs
• Echocardiogram: This test shows the heart’s movement
• Electrocardiogram : ECG records the electrical impulses travelling through the heart
• Cardiac catheterisation. This test is done under X-ray conditions
• Stress Test. This test is performed under close supervision and requires you to exercise whilst being monitored to see how well your heart copes under pressure.

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When To Get Medical Advice

See your GP if you experience persistent or gradually worsening symptoms of heart failure.

The symptoms can be caused by other, less serious conditions, so it’s a good idea to get them checked out.

Call 999 for an ambulance or go to your nearest accident and emergency department as soon as possible if you have sudden or very severe symptoms.

This is a medical emergency that may require immediate treatment in hospital.

Page last reviewed: 26 October 2018 Next review due: 26 October 2021

Warning Signs Of Heart Failure

By themselves, any one sign of heart failure may not be cause for alarm. But if you have more than one of these symptoms, even if you haven’t been diagnosed with any heart problems, report them to a healthcare professional and ask for an evaluation of your heart. Congestive heart failure is a type of heart failure which requires seeking timely medical attention, although sometimes the two terms are used interchangeably.

If you have been diagnosed with heart failure, it’s important for you to manage and keep track of symptoms and report any sudden changes to your healthcare team.

This table lists the most common signs and symptoms, explains why they occur and describes how to recognize them.

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What Is Heart Failure

The term “heart failure” can be frightening. It doesn’t mean the heart has “failed” or stopped working. It means the heart doesn’t pump as well as it should.

Heart failure is a major health problem in the United States, affecting about 5.7 million Americans. About 550,000 new cases of heart failure occur each year. It’s the leading cause of hospitalization in people older than 65.

If you have heart failure, you’ll enjoy better health and quality of life if you take care of yourself and keep yourself in balance. It’s important to learn about heart failure, how to keep in good balance, and when to call the doctor.

Tips For Managing Congestive Heart Failure End

You may be asking, How can I provide comfort to my loved one as they experience the end-of-life signs of congestive heart failure? Its only natural that you as a loved one and/or caregiver will want to be as helpful as possible, and ensure that your loved one is experiencing as little pain as possible. Heres some ways you can help:

• Communicate with the doctors and healthcare professionals: Your loved one may be too weak, or simply forget, to communicate their symptoms to the doctors and nurses. You can help by sharing this information with them in order to make sure your loved one gets what they need.
• Provide comfort: Sometimes it is just as simple as spending time with your loved one while watching a TV show, or talking about things they love. These conversations can help in alleviating some of their depression and anxiety.
• Help them remember to take their medicine: There will likely be various pills and medications that your loved one needs to take. You can help by assisting your loved one in staying on schedule.

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Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

It’s sometimes called emphysema or chronic bronchitis, and it can make you short of breath. Smoking causes this disease most of the time.

When you have COPD, the airways in your lungs get inflamed and thicken, which means less oxygen comes in and less carbon dioxide goes out. Over time, the shortness of breath gets worse.

Your doctor can give you medication to help you manage the symptoms. If the problems get worse, you may need to use an oxygen tank to help with your breathing trouble.

The best thing you can do for your lungs is to quit smoking. Learn more about the symptoms and causes of COPD.

Most of the time it’s caused by smoking. Your symptoms may include:

• Chest pain

Your Legs Feet And Ankles Are Swollen

This could be a sign that your heart doesnât pump blood as effectively as it should.

When the heart can’t pump fast enough, blood backs up in the veins and causes bloating.

Heart failure can also make it harder for the kidneys to remove extra water and sodium from the body, which can lead to bloating.

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Life Expectancy With Congestive Heart Failure

The life expectancy of someone with congestive heart failure depends on the type of heart failure, the cause, the stage of the disease, and how effective treatment is.

When heart failure results from cardiomyopathy or coronary artery disease, a person typically has a less positive outlook than someone with heart failure in its earliest stage.

How Can I Improve My Quality Of Life With Heart Failure

There are several things you can do to improve your quality of life if you have heart failure. Among them:

• Eat a healthy diet. Limit your consumption of sodium to less than 1,500 milligrams each day. Eat foods high in fiber. Limit foods high in trans fat, cholesterol, and sugar. Reduce total daily intake of calories to lose weight if necessary.
• Exercise regularly. A regular cardiovascular exercise program, prescribed by your doctor, will help improve your strength and make you feel better. It may also decrease heart failure progression.
• Don’t overdo it. Plan your activities and include rest periods during the day. Certain activities, such as pushing or pulling heavy objects and shoveling may worsen heart failure and its symptoms.
• Prevent respiratory infections. Ask your doctor about flu and pneumonia vaccines.
• Take your medications as prescribed. Do not stop taking them without first contacting your doctor.
• Get emotional or psychological support if needed. Heart failure can be difficult for your whole family. If you have questions, ask your doctor or nurse. If you need emotional support, social workers, psychologists, clergy, and heart failure support groups are a phone call away. Ask your doctor or nurse to point you in the right direction.

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Reason : You Arent Sleeping Well

If you feel exhausted after a bad night, imagine that every night is a bad night. Then youll know how people with sleep apnea feel every day.

Sleep apnea causes people to awaken hundreds of times a night, preventing them from getting deep, restorative sleep. Sleep apnea is common in heart failure. Once it is diagnosed, using a continuous positive airway pressure mask at night can restore a normal sleeping pattern and increase daytime energy.

As heart failure advances, some patients may not be able to breathe when they lie flat. This can interfere with normal sleep. Your heart-failure specialist can show you several sleeping positions that may make breathing and sleeping easier.

Women And Heart Failure

Women are just as likely as men to develop heart failure, but there are some differences:

• Women tend to develop heart failure later in life compared with men.
• Women tend to have heart failure caused by high blood pressure and have a normal EF .
• Women may have more shortness of breath than men do. There are no differences in treatment for men and women with heart failure.

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What Are The 4 Signs Your Heart Is Quietly Failing

The following are some of the signs and symptoms of heart failure:

• When you exert yourself or lie down, you can experience shortness of breath .
• Weakness and exhaustion.
• Edema in the thighs, ankles, and feet.
• Heartbeat that is too fast or too irregular.
• Exercise ability is hampered.
• Coughing or wheezing that is persistent, with white or pink blood-tinged phlegm.

What Can You Expect If You Have Heart Failure

Medicines and lifestyle changes can slow or even reverse heart failure for some people. But heart failure often gets worse over time.

Early on, your symptoms may not be too bad. As heart failure gets worse, you may need to limit your activities. Treatment can often help reduce symptoms, but it usually doesn’t get rid of them.

Heart failure can also lead to other health problems. These may include:

• Trouble with your heart rhythm .
• Mitral valve regurgitation.
• Blood clots in your legs or lungs .

Your doctor may be able to give you medicine or other treatment to prevent or treat these problems.

Heart failure can get worse suddenly. If this happens, you will need emergency care. To prevent sudden heart failure, you need to avoid things that can trigger it. These include eating too much salt, missing a dose of your medicine, and exercising too hard.

Knowing that your health may get worse can be hard. It is normal to sometimes feel sad or hopeless. But if these feelings last, talk to your doctor. Antidepressant medicines, counseling, or both may help you cope.

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A Cough That Wont Quit

In most cases, this isn’t a sign of heart trouble. But if you have heart disease or know you’re at risk, pay special attention to the possibility.

If you have a long-lasting cough that produces a white or pink mucus, it could be a sign of heart failure. This happens when the heart can’t keep up with the body’s demands, causing blood to leak back into the lungs.

Ask your doctor to check on whatâs causing your cough.

Weight Gain And Increased Urination

Weight gain. Weight gain is common with an increase in fluid retention. This may come on gradually or relatively quickly. One way to measure the effectiveness of treatment is to monitor your daily weight is.

Frequent urination during the night . When excess fluid is mobilized, the kidneys recognize the extra water within the bloodstream and they may produce more urine. This often occurs at night when the legs aWre elevated leading to frequent nighttime urination .

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Sign 3# Your Legs Swell Up

When your heart is weak, the circulation of blood to the peripheries of the body is reduced.

Fluid begins to leak out and collects under the skin. This is commonly seen the legs. This is because the fluid is dragged to the bottom by gravity.

Swelling in the legs is called pedal edema. It is usually seen in both legs.

Those who have leg swelling may find that the swelling is absent or minimal in the morning and worse in the evening.

Leg swelling can be treated with diuretics. These tablets push the kidneys to expel more water from the body.

Leg Ankle And Foot Swelling

• Since the legs are the most dependent part of the body, fluid often will first accumulate in the feet and ankles, causing them to swell.
• This is called dependent edema.
• The person’s shoes may not fit, and socks may cause an indentation in the skin after they have been worn for a couple of hours.
• The more fluid that accumulates and the more severe heart failure, the more the legs will swell. If the person is confined to a bed or a chair, the swelling may also be noted in the buttocks or small of the back.
• When heart failure is severe there can be enough excess fluid and edema that the swelling will extend into the abdomen and involve other organs, such as the liver. This condition is referred to as anasarca.
• Often, affected individuals will notice that the swelling in the legs is better in the morning when they wake.
• Swelling increases during the day as the legs are used more.
• Sleeping or lying down helps decrease edema in the feet and legs.

As the left side of the heart fails to pump blood adequately, a backup of fluid occurs in the lungs. Water seeps out of the tiny capillary blood vessels into the lungs. This makes it difficult for oxygen to be absorbed and creates shortness of breath.

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Change In Exercise Tolerance

Could indicate:Coronary artery disease congestive heart failure valvular heart disease

John Osborne, MD, the director of cardiology at LowT Center/HerKare and volunteer for the American Heart Association , regularly sees patients who could mow the lawn easily a few months ago, but now struggleand they end up having heart disease. If tasks that used to be painless are now difficult, consider seeing a doctor.

What Are The Types Of Heart Failure

There are many causes of heart failure, but the condition is generally broken down into two types:

Heart failure with reduced left ventricular function The lower left chamber of the heart gets bigger and cannot squeeze hard enough to pump the right amount of oxygen-rich blood to the rest of the body.

Heart failure with preserved left ventricular function The heart contracts and pumps normally, but the bottom chambers of the heart are thicker and stiffer than normal. Because of this, the ventricles can’t relax properly and fill up all the way. Because there’s less blood in the ventricles, less blood is pumped out to the rest of the body when the heart contracts.

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What Causes Heart Failure

Heart failure can be caused by many medical conditions that damage the heart muscle. Common conditions are:

• Coronary artery disease affects the arteries that carry blood and oxygen to the heart . The normal lining inside the arteries breaks down, the walls of the arteries become thick, and deposits of fat and plaque partially block the flow of blood. Over time, the arteries become very narrow or completely blocked, which causes a heart attack. The blockage keeps the heart from being able to pump enough blood to keep your organs and tissues healthy. When arteries are blocked, you may have chest pain and other symptoms of heart disease.
• Heart attack. A heart attack happens when a coronary artery suddenly becomes blocked and blood cannot flow to all areas of the heart muscle. The heart muscle becomes permanently damaged and muscle cells may die. Normal heart muscle cells may work harder. The heart may get bigger or stiff .
• Cardiomyopathy. Cardiomyopathy is a term that describes damage to and enlargement of the heart muscle not caused by problems with the coronary arteries or blood flow. Cardiomyopathy can occur due to many causes, including viruses, alcohol or drug abuse, smoking, genetics and pregnancy .
• Tobacco and illicit drug use.
• Medications. Some drugs used to fight cancer can lead to heart failure.

What Are The Symptoms Of Heart Failure

There may be times that your symptoms are mild or you may not have any symptoms at all. This doesn’t mean you no longer have heart failure. Symptoms of heart failure can range from mild to severe, and may come and go.

In general, heart failure gets worse over time. As it worsens, you may have more or different signs or symptoms. It is important to let your doctor know if you have new symptoms or if your symptoms get worse.

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