What is heart failure?
Heart failure is a condition in which the heart muscle is unable to pump blood efficiently. This can cause the blood to back up, causing fluid to build up in your lungs and making it difficult to breath. Some heart conditions gradually cause the heart muscle to become too weak or rigid to pump blood effectively. This can be caused by narrowed arteries in your heart, high blood pressure, or other conditions. If you have heart failure, treatment can help improve symptoms and may even extend your life expectancy. Heart failure is sometimes referred to as congestive.
Symptoms of Heart Failure:
Cough with frothy sputum, difficulty in sleeping due to breathing problem or breathless after exercise or at rest tiredness most of the time exhaustion after strenuous exercise feeling dizzy or faint swelling of the ankles and legs some people experience other symptoms such as a chronic cough, high heart rate dizziness, acute heart failure or chronic heart failure symptoms can appear suddenly (acute) or gradually over a period of weeks or months.
What is congestive Heart failure?
CHF is a clinical syndrome in which pumping ability of heart get impaired (heart is unable to pump) and is associated with inadequate retention of sodium and water.
While Congestive Heart Failure is the most common outcome of heart disease, it does not have to be caused by heart disease. Other causes that can lead to congestive failure include: Hyperthyroidism Acute blood loss, Beriberi. These conditions may affect your heart indirectly or put undue stress on your heart that it cannot handle Congestive failure can also be caused by these conditions. Treatment of the underlying disease process will typically correct the heart failure. Therefore, congestive failure caused by these conditions is not as serious as that caused by heart damage. However, they should be taken into consideration when a patient with Congestive Failure does not respond to routine treatment.
Symptoms of Congestive Heart Failure According to Class:
Class 1: No symptoms appear and individual may perform physical exercises without any limitations.
Class 2: No symptoms appear at rest, but mild symptoms may experience by individual, with slight limitations.
Class 3: Individual feels comfortable at rest, with marked limitations in physical exercises even in an ordinary exercises or less due to appearance of symptoms.
Class 4: Patient experience intense symptoms even at rest, severe limitation were their, even unable to do ordinary physical activities.
Symptoms may include:
Weight loss or gain, fatigue, (Edema) swellings of feet ankles and on legs, coughing and shortness of breathing (Paroxysmal Nocturnal Dyspnea), somnolence, orthopnea.
There are 4 different Stages Of CHF (Congestive heart failure):
Heart failure is a long term condition that worsens over time. Heart failure is divided into four stages that include stage 1, stage 2, stage 3, stage 4.
Stage 1:
Patient with stage 1 are at risk for developing heart failure due to a family history or other medical conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, coronary artery disease, metabolic syndrome, alcohol use disorder, rheumatoid fever, family history of Cardiomyopathy, or a history of taking medications that can damage the heart muscle such as certain cancer drugs.
Management and Treatment include:
Monitoring
Healthy diet and exercise
Manage Chronic Conditions
Stage 2:
Patient with stage 2 are those with a left ventricular dysfunction or a structurally abnormal heart, but have never had any symptoms of LVD.
Management and treatment needed:
Monitoring
Healthy diet and exercise
Manage Chronic Conditions
Medication
Stage 3:
Patient with stage 3 are diagnosis with CHF and current or pre-existing Left ventricular dysfunction symptoms.
Management and treatment include:
Restrict sodium in diet
Monitor fluid intake
Daily weight tracking
Manage chronic conditions
Medication
Stage 4:
Patient with Stage 4 have advanced left ventricular dysfunction symptoms that do not improve with treatment.
Management and treatment needed:
Restrict sodium in diet
Monitor fluid intake
Daily weight tracking
Manage chronic conditions
Medication
palliative care
surgery
Congestive heart failure is an incurable disease. Once senior develops CHf, there is no reversing it. This is why chronic health management at each stage is critical.
How long can a person live with heart failure and how we increase lifespan of heart failure patient?
In addition to medications, lifestyle changes can also help to slow the progression of heart failure and improve your daily life. Here are some lifestyle changes that can help to reduce symptoms of heart failure, including reducing sodium in your diet, quitting smoking, managing stress and being physically active. According to the research it is estimated that half of all people with congestive heart failure will survive for 5 years after diagnosis and about 35% will survive for 10 years. However in some cases, a person can extent their life expectancy through lifestyle changes, medications and surgery.er.
If you have been diagnosed with heart failure (congestive), there are a few lifestyle changes you will need to consider. However, it is important to remember that your diagnosis does not mean you have to give up on activities you enjoy. Exercise is a great way to keep your heart healthy. The American Heart Association recommends that adults get 150 minutes a week of moderate to high intensity aerobic activity. However it is to consult with your doctor before beginning a new exercise program. Your doctor may also recommend heart healthy lifestyle changes, such as reducing your fluid intake to lower body water content.
Additionally, diuretics, such as water pills, can help reduce your heart's workload.
Medications help in increasing lifespan of a patient:
ACE inhibitors, Artificial Reproductive Bogies, Angiotensin-2 receptor antagonists, Beta channel blockers (Beta Adrenergic Blocking Agents), Aldosterone antagonists, Diuretics and other medications that may be prescribed for a patient's other health conditions, such as anticoagulant (blood thinning agents), Cholesterol lowering drugs (Statins), Digoxin.
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