Congestive heart failure, often known as heart failure, is a chronic illness in which your heart is unable to pump blood effectively enough to satisfy your body's demands. Your heart is still functioning.
Congestive heart failure, often known as heart failure, is a chronic illness in which your heart is unable to pump blood effectively enough to satisfy your body's demands. Your heart is still functioning.
What is Congestive Heart Failure (CHF)?
Congestive heart failure, often known as heart failure, is a chronic illness in which your heart is unable to pump blood effectively enough to satisfy your body's demands. Your heart is still functioning. However, since it cannot manage the volume of blood it should, blood accumulates in other places in your body. Most of the time, it accumulates in your lungs, legs, and feet.
Consider it a shipping department that is struggling to get all of the items to their destinations. The shipping department is always behind schedule, causing items to build up. When things build up, it causes problems.
Types of congestive heart failure
There are many types of congestive heart failure:
Left-sided heart failure.
Right-sided heart failure.
High-output heart failure. This is an uncommon kind of congestive heart failure.
How common is congestive heart failure?
More than 6 million individuals in the United States suffer from congestive heart failure. It is the primary cause of hospitalization in adults over 65.
Symptoms & Causes
What are the signs of congestive heart failure?
The symptoms of congestive heart failure are as follows:
Shortness of breath.
I'm waking up at night feeling short of breath.
Chest discomfort.
Cardiac palpitations.
Fatigue occurs while you are active.
Swelling in the ankles, legs, and abdomen.
Weight increase.
Urinate when sleeping at night.
A dry, hacking cough.
A swollen or firm stomach.
Appetite loss or sickness.
You may have modest symptoms of congestive heart failure or none at all. This is not to say that you no longer have heart failure. Heart failure symptoms may vary from moderate to severe and may occur intermittently. Unfortunately, congestive heart failure tends to worsen with time. As the condition progresses, you may notice more or different signs and symptoms.
What's the cause of congestive heart failure?
The causes of congestive heart failure are:
Coronary artery disease or a heart attack.
Cardiomyopathy (either hereditary or viral).
Heart problems appear at birth (congenital heart disease).
Diabetes.
High blood pressure (hypertension).
Arrhythmia.
Kidney disease.
A body mass index (BMI) over 30.
Tobacco and recreational drug usage.
Alcohol usage.
Cancer medications (chemotherapy).
Left-sided heart failure is the leading cause of right-sided heart failure. When your
left ventricle fails to function properly, blood might accumulate. This backlog
eventually damages your right ventricle. Other reasons m include specific
lung abnormalities as well as organ concerns.
What are the risk factors for developing congestive heart failure?
The risk factors for congestive heart failure are:
Being older than 65.
Using tobacco, cocaine, or alcohol.
Having a sedentary lifestyle.
Eating meals high in salt and fat.
Having elevated blood pressure.
Have coronary artery disease.
Having a heart attack.
A family history of congestive heart failure.
What are the possible consequences of congestive heart failure?
Some of the problems of congestive heart failure are:
An irregular heartbeat.
Sudden cardiac arrest.
Heart valve issues.
A buildup of fluid in your lungs.
Pulmonary hypertension.
Kidney injury.
Liver injury.
Malnutrition.
Diagnoses and Tests
How is congestive heart failure diagnosed?
Your healthcare physician will enquire about your symptoms and medical history. They could question you about:
You also have other health issues.
A family history of heart disease or unexpected death.
You use tobacco goods.
How much alcohol you consume
Any history of chemotherapy or radiation.
The medicines you take.
You will also get a physical examination. Your physician will check for indicators of congestive heart failure as well as conditions that have caused your heart muscle to weaken or stiffen.
What are the four different phases of congestive heart failure?
Heart failure is a chronic illness that worsens with time. There are four phases of heart failure: A, B, C, and D. They vary from being at high risk for heart failure to having advanced heart failure.
Stage A
Stage A (pre-heart failure) indicates that you are at high risk of developing heart failure due to a family history of congestive heart failure or one or more of the following medical conditions:
Hypertension.
Diabetes.
Coronary Artery Disease.
Metabolic Syndrome.
Alcohol use disorder history.
History of rheumatic fever.
There is a family history of cardiomyopathy.
History of using treatments that might harm your heart muscle, such as certain
cancer medications.
Stage B
Stage B (pre-heart failure) indicates that your left ventricle is not operating properly and/or is anatomically defective, but you have never had symptoms of heart failure
Stage C
People with Stage C heart failure have been diagnosed with congestive heart failure and are experiencing or have previously experienced its symptoms.
Stage D and lower EF (ejection fraction).
People with Stage D HFrEF (heart failure with decreased ejection fraction) have advanced symptoms that do not improve with therapy. This is the end-stage of cardiac failure.
What tests will be used to detect congestive heart failure?
Common tests for determining congestive heart failure, its stage, and its cause include:
Blood testing.
Cardiac catheterization.
Chest x-ray.
Echocardiogram.
Heart magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Cardiac CT.
Electrocardiogram (EKG, ECG).
Multigated Acquisition Scan (MUGA).
Stress test.
Genetic testing.
Management & Treatment
How is congestive heart failure treated?
Your therapy will be determined by the kind of heart failure you have, as well as the reason. All heart failure treatment plans include medications and lifestyle adjustments. Your healthcare professional will consult with you about the optimal treatment strategy for you.
There is no cure for heart failure. As congestive heart failure worsens, your heart muscle pumps less blood to your organs, and you progress to the next stage of heart failure. Because you can't go backward through the heart failure phases, the objective of therapy is to prevent you from progressing ahead or to reduce the advancement of your heart failure.
Stage A therapy
Treatment for persons with Stage A heart failure includes the following:
Walking every day is an example of regular exercise.
No tobacco products.
High blood pressure treatment includes medicine, a low-sodium diet, and an active lifestyle.
Treatment of elevated cholesterol.
There are no alcoholic beverages or recreational drugs.
If you have coronary artery disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, or any other vascular or cardiac problem, you should take an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACE-I) or an angiotensin II receptor blocker.
Stage B therapy.
Treatment for individuals with Stage B heart failure includes:
Treatments for Stage A.
If your EF is 40% or below, use an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor
(ACE-I) or angiotensin II receptor blocker.
If you've had a heart attack and your EF is 40% or below, take a beta-blocker (if you don't already).
If you've had a heart attack or have an EF of 35% or below, take an aldosterone antagonist.
Possible treatment options include surgery or intervention for coronary artery blockage, heart attack, valve disease (valve repair or replacement), and congenital heart disease.
Stage C therapy
Treatment for individuals with Stage C HFrEF includes:
Treatments for Stages A and B.
Beta-blocker.
Aldosterone antagonist.
Sodium-glucose transport 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i).
If alternative therapies fail to relieve your symptoms and you are African American, consider a hydralazine/nitrate combo.
If your heart rate is faster than 70 beats per minute and you continue to experience symptoms, you should take heart rate-lowering medications.
If your symptoms persist, use a diuretic ("water pill").
Limit the amount of sodium (salt) consumed.
Weight is tracked every day. Tell your doctor if you gain or lose more than four pounds.
Possible fluid restriction.
Possible heart resynchronization treatment (biventricular pacemaker).
Possible implanted cardiac defibrillator (ICD) treatment.
If the medication improves or eliminates your symptoms, you must continue treatment to reduce the development to Stage D.
Stage D therapy
People with Stage D heart failure get therapy for Stages A, B, and C. It also evaluates more sophisticated therapy possibilities, such as:
Heart transplants.
Ventricular assistive devices.
Cardiac surgery.
Continuous infusion of inotropic medicines.
palliative or hospice treatment.
Stages C and D show maintained EF.
Treatment for persons with Stage C or Stage D heart failure with preserved EF (HFpEF) includes:
Treatments for stages A and B.
Medications used to treat medical problems that might cause or worsen heart failure, including atrial fibrillation, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, coronary artery disease, chronic lung disease, high cholesterol, and renal disease.
A diuretic ("water pill") is used to lessen or alleviate symptoms.
It is also vital that you manage your other health issues, such as:
Diabetes.
Kidney disease.
Anemia.
High blood pressure.
Thyroid illness.
Asthma.
Chronic lung disease.
Some illnesses have symptoms comparable to congestive heart failure. Inform your healthcare practitioner if you have any new or worsening nonurgent symptoms.
Complications or adverse effects of therapy
Complications of congestive heart failure therapies might include:
Hypotension.
Kidney failure.
Infections from repeated hospital visits using central IVs.
Prevention
How can I reduce my risk of congestive heart failure?
Although certain risk factors, such as age, family history, and race, cannot be changed, you may improve your chances of avoiding heart failure by changing your lifestyle. You can accomplish the following things:
Maintaining an appropriate body weight.
Eating heart-healthy meals.
Exercise on a regular basis.
Managing your stress.
Stopping the usage of tobacco products.
Not consuming alcohol.
Don’t use recreational drugs.
Taking care of other medical disorders that may raise your risk.
How can I take care of myself?
Many individuals may still njoy life while having congestive heart failure, with the correct care and treatment plan.
You may take care of yourself as follows:
Taking your medicine
Being active.
Maintaining a low-sodium diet.
Tracking and reporting new or worsening symptoms to your doctor.
Making frequent follow-up visits with your physician.
Congestive heart failure is a chronic, long-term condition that may worsen fast, so it's important to inform your physician and family about your medical care choices. You may make an advance directive or a living
will to tell everyone involved in your care what you want. A living will specifies the treatments you desire or do not want to extend your life. It is a good idea to create a living will while you are still healthy in case you
are unable to make these selections later in life.
What foods and beerages should I avoid when suffering from congestive heart failure?
People with congestive heart failure may need to decrease their daily salt and/or fluid intake. Your supplier may supply you with guidelines on this.
When should I visit my healthcare provider?
It is critical to notify your physician if you have new symptoms or if existing heart failure symptoms worsen. Contact them if you notice anything new or worsening.
Shortness of breath when at rest.
Swelling in the legs or abdomen.
Sudden weight increase.
Constant fatigue.
