Understanding Heart Failure
Heart failure, or weakened heart strength, doesn’t mean that the heart stops working, but it is a condition where the heart can’t function as well as it should. The condition of a weakened or less powerful heart makes activities that are normally easy much harder. However, there are various methods that patients and doctors can cooperate to help the heart function better again.
Causes of Heart Failure
The common causes of heart failure or weakened heart strength are ischemic heart disease due to narrowed coronary arteries or from a heart attack. Other causes include high blood pressure, valvular heart disease, and myocardial infection.
These causes reduce the heart muscle’s ability to pump blood, leading to a decrease in blood flow throughout the body. Thus, the heart tries to adjust itself so that the amount of blood being pumped can nourish different parts of the body normally. The heart chambers then expand to store more blood, which can only happen for a while because the stretched heart muscle becomes tired and cannot pump efficiently. With each contraction, a weakened heart pumps less blood, resulting in
- Fluid accumulation in the lungs
- Reduced oxygen supply to organs such as the kidneys
- The kidneys’ ability to remove excess fluid from the body decreases, causing fluid to accumulate in various parts of the body, leading to swelling, which makes heart failure progressively worse
Symptoms of Heart Failure
The symptoms of heart failure or weakened heart strength can vary, and a patient may experience many symptoms or just one, such as
- Fatigue, easily tired
- Discomfort, difficulty breathing when exercising
- Difficulty breathing when lying flat
- Waking up at night due to coughing or difficulty breathing
- Swollen ankles or feet
- Frequent dizziness or faintness
- Frequent urination at night
Treating Heart Failure
When diagnosed with heart failure, patients and doctors can work together to help the patient live comfortably. The doctor may prescribe medication to help the heart function better, while the patient should cooperate by changing certain lifestyle aspects, such as diet, scheduling medication intake, monitoring feelings and symptoms, tracking weight, and informing the doctor if feeling worse.
