Heart failure occurs when the heart muscle doesn't pump blood as well as it should. Blood often backs up and causes fluid to build up in the lungs and in the legs. The fluid buildup can cause shortness of breath and swelling of the legs and feet. Poor blood flow may cause the skin to appear blue or gray.
You may have trouble breathing, an irregular heartbeat, swollen legs, neck veins that stick out, and sounds from fluid built up in your lungs. Your doctor will check for these and other signs of heart failure. A test called an echocardiogram is often the best test to diagnose your heart failure.
Symptoms of heart failure
breathlessness after activity or at rest. feeling tired most of the time and finding exercise exhausting. feeling lightheaded or fainting. swollen ankles and legs.
The most common symptoms of heart failure are: breathlessness – this may occur after activity or at rest; it may be worse when you're lying down, and you may wake up at night needing to catch your breath. fatigue – you may feel tired most of the time and find exercise exhausting.
Stage A (pre-heart failure) means you're at a high risk of developing heart failure because you have a family history of congestive heart failure or you have one or more of these medical conditions: Hypertension. Diabetes. Coronary artery disease.
The strongest independent associations for incident HF were coronary artery disease (HR=2.94; 95% CI 1.36 to 6.33), diabetes mellitus (HR=2.00; 95% CI 1.68 to 2.38), age (HR (per 10 years)=1.80; 95% CI 1.13 to 2.87) followed by hypertension (HR=1.61; 95% CI 1.33 to 1.96), smoking (HR=1.60; 95% CI 1.45 to 1.77), male ...
The life expectancy for congestive heart failure depends on the cause of heart failure, its severity, and other underlying medical conditions. In general, about half of all people diagnosed with congestive heart failure will survive 5 years. About 30% will survive for 10 years.
Tests for heart failure
Tests you may have to diagnose heart failure include: blood tests – to check whether there's anything in your blood that might indicate heart failure or another illness. an electrocardiogram (ECG) – this records the electrical activity of your heart to check for problems.
If you wake up feeling not refreshed, you have daytime sleepiness or if you need to curtail your daytime activity because of lack of energy, these could be signs your heart failure isn't being managed as well as it could be, Dr. Freeman says.
In some cases of heart failure — particularly newly diagnosed CHF or heart failure after other cardiac surgery — the heart may recover after a period of support on a VAD.
Your doctor may recommend a blood test to check for B-type natriuretic peptide, a protein that the heart secretes to keep blood pressure stable. These levels increase with heart failure. A blood test may also be performed to look for substances that are associated with heart and lung damage.
Heart failure can involve the heart's left side, right side or both sides. However, it usually affects the left side first.
Life contains no guarantees: yes, even if you live a healthy lifestyle you still can develop heart problems — particularly if you have been born with "bad" genes that make you vulnerable to heart disease.
Heart failure is common in both men and women, although men often develop heart failure at a younger age than women. Women more commonly have heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), which is when the heart does not fill with enough blood.
About half of people who develop heart failure die within 5 years of diagnosis. 3. Most people with end-stage heart failure have a life expectancy of less than 1 year.
Two or three days of working out a week don't produce good results. Researchers said that it needs to be done four to five times per week, typically in 30-minute sessions, not including warm-up and cool-down periods. Exercise and weight loss can help to reverse heart failure when it's started early enough.
Diuretics remain the cornerstone of standard therapy for acute heart failure. In such patients, IV administration of a loop diuretic (ie, furosemide, bumetanide, torsemide) is preferred initially because of potentially poor absorption of the oral form in the presence of bowel edema.
Most often, heart failure is caused by another medical condition that damages your heart. This includes coronary heart disease, heart inflammation, high blood pressure, cardiomyopathy, or an irregular heartbeat.
Heart failure can happen at any age. It happens to both men and women, but men often develop it at a younger age than women. Your chance of developing heart failure increases if: You're 65 years old or older.
You can check for heart disease at home by measuring your pulse rate and your blood pressure if you have a blood pressure monitor. You can also monitor yourself for symptoms of heart disease, such as: Chest pain, pressure, discomfort, or tightness. Being short of breath.