Heart failure – Symptoms, Causes and treatments

God forbids, but if someone close to you has a heart failure then how will you understand, what are the symptoms that would prompt you to take actions. This blog will help you to understand the signs, causes and treatments you should take to prevent heart failure.
Heart failure also known as congestive heart failure happens when the blood is not pumped enough by the heart muscles required by the body.
Prior heart conditions such as coronary artery disease (narrow arteries in the heart) or high blood pressure make it difficult for the heart to pump blood properly
The best advice about what to do and about the treatment is given by the heart specialist. This would help in improvement in the sign and symptoms of heart failure. From your side, you need to change your lifestyle.
Lifestyle changes such as losing weight, exercising, and managing stress can improve the quality of your life. You need to work on your diet too. Healthy diet helps improve the conditions of heart. Keep away from smoking and consuming alcohols, avoid night parties, avoid late sleep to make your heart function healthy.
People with heart failure having severe symptoms may require a heart transplant. Or a ventricular assist device.
To avoid getting troubled by such a big problem, you need to control conditions like obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and coronary artery disease.

Symptoms

Some of the heart failure symptoms which you need to see for yourself are:
1.Fatigue and weakness
2.Fast heartbeat
3.Swelling in the legs, ankles and feet
4.Not able to exercise
5.Cough or wheezing with white or pink blood-tinged mucus
6.Shortness of breath with doing an activity
7.Very rapid weight gain
8.Difficulty concentrating
9.Chest pain if heart failure is caused by a heart attack
10.Less appetite

Heart failure usually occurs after other heart diseases have affected the heart. The stiffness of the heart is also the cause of heart failure.
In heart failure, the chambers of the heart become stiff. In some cases, the heart muscle becomes damaged and weakened. The ventricles get so stretched that the heart cannot pump enough blood throughout the body.

Conditions leading to heart failure

Certain conditions can happen before having heart failure. These conditions weaken the heart causing heart failure. Some of the conditions are:

1.Coronary artery disease: Fatty deposits build up in the heart’s arteries leading to less blood reaching the heart muscle. This build-up is known as atherosclerosis. This leads to chest pain when the blood flow is blocked. This leads to heart failure over time.

2.Past heart attack – A heart attack happens when the artery that supplies blood to the heart muscle gets blocked. The denial of nutrients and oxygen damages the heart’s muscle tissue and may also lead to the death of a person. This weakens the ability of the heart.

3.High Blood Pressure – High blood pressure is considered one of the major causes of heart failure. During high blood pressure, the heart pumps blood harder than normal. This creates pressure in the blood vessel making the heart larger and weaker. Your doctor may prescribe medication to control your blood pressure.

4.Abnormal heart valves – Heart valves can be a problem from birth. The muscle has to pump harder when the valves don’t open or close completely during each heartbeat. This increases the heart load of blood resulting in heart failure.

5.Heart muscle disease ( dilated cardiomyopathy, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy) or inflammation (myocarditis).- Any damage to the heart muscle due to the use of alcohol or drug or some viral infection increase the risk of heart failure.

6.Severe lung disease: When the lungs have a problem it becomes a priority for the heart to supply oxygen to the body.

7.Diabetes: People with diabetes develop hypertension and atherosclerosis from elevated lipid levels. This leads to an increased risk of heart failure.

8.Obesity: A heart of an obese person has to work more than a non-obese person. Obesity is also a cause of sleep apnea and causes heart failure.

9.Sleep Apnea : It is a potentially life-threatening sleep disorder. It can contribute to severe fatigue during the day. Sleep apnea is a risk of medical problems like diabetes, heart failure, stroke and high blood pressure.

Treatment of heart failure

While there are no reversals for heart failure, some strategies if followed can give a better life. These implementations would keep your heart better.

Lifestyles changes

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is crucial in managing heart failure:
1.Limiting Salt intake: It is advised to eat low-salt food. It is also avoided to add salt to your food because salt retains your fluid.
2.Managing the fluid balance: You need to drink water as advised by your doctor. And need to control your caffeine intake.
3.Alcohol-free: It is advised by the doctor not to intake alcohol. Your heart is weak and alcohol may weaken your heart, further.
4.Becoming smoke-free- Smoking reduces the oxygen in the blood therefore it should be immediately stopped.
5.Exercise: You need to maintain weight so a moderate level of exercise could be as advised by a doctor.
6.Joining a support group- Heart failure can be challenging so a group of people can be helpful. Specialists including dieticians, nurses and exercise specialist.

Medication

You need to take medicine as advised by the doctors. If you are having a problem you need to discuss with your doctor. It is suggested not to stop the medicines without talking to the doctor to first.
Living with heart failure can be a difficult job. It can be physically and emotionally challenging. Being under a proper specialist can make the journey less daunting and with proper treatment, it can make your life easy.

Disclaimer

Though all attempts are made to provide correct information on the subject, inadvertent & typographical errors arising out of manual intervention cannot be ruled out. It is requested to bring any such discrepancies to the notice of the blogger for correction.