Congestive heart failure is one of the major and sometimes high-risk heart problems that affects especially the elderly. If you or your loved ones have congestive heart failure, you should know that your heart is in a state where it has lost much of its ability to pump blood into the body’s arteries.
This disorder causes a series of symptoms and manifestations in your body that are the subject of our article. Heart failure is sometimes referred to as heart failure, but if we want to look more closely, heart failure is one of the types of heart failure.
In the following you will read more about “Congestive heart failure symptoms”
what you will read next :
- When does congestive heart failure occur?
- What are the symptoms of congestive heart failure?
- Prognosis and longevity in congestive heart failure
- Consequences and consequences of congestive heart failure
- Causes of congestive heart failure
- Stages of congestive heart failure
- How is congestive heart failure treated?
- When should we see a doctor?
When does congestive heart failure occur?
If your heart is not able to pump blood out of the heart effectively and completely, this means, it is not able to get enough blood flow to the cells of each organ (due to inefficiency in pumping blood), doctors believe that your heart have a kind of heart failure and the blood inside the heart is not pumped out and bounces back, which means the blood on the left side of your heart goes back to the lungs and you suffer from pulmonary edema and shortness of breath. In long-term heart failure, fluid retention goes beyond this and you get edema and swelling of the ankle and so on.
What are the symptoms of congestive heart failure?
Heart failure can occur quite acutely and suddenly. For example, cardiac arrhythmias are sometimes associated with acute heart failure, and sometimes congestive heart failure is chronic, which means you have permanent symptoms of congestive heart failure.
Clinical signs and symptoms of congestive heart failure or symptoms of heart failure include:
- Weakness and fatigue:
Due to insufficient blood supply to the body’s cells
- Breathing problems:
Shortness of breath and difficulty breathing
- Increased heart rate or tachycardia
- Arrhythmias, or abnormal heart rhythms
- Swelling of the ankles, swelling of the legs as well as swelling of the thighs
- Need to wake up to urinate at night
- Swelling and edema of the abdomen or ascites
- Lack of appetite due to swelling of the abdomen and liver and a feeling of fullness
- Nausea
- Sputum cough
- Sputum-soaked bloody cough
- Fluid retention causes abnormal weight gain
- Mental disorders such as
- Memory impairment
- Dizziness
- Impaired consciousness
Keep in mind that if heart failure occurs following a heart attack, the person will also have chest pain.
Note that although the above symptoms are present in congestive heart failure, many of the symptoms listed may also be present in other diseases and disorders of the heart or lung problems.
The best action is to see a doctor if you or your loved ones have one or more of these symptoms.
Prognosis and longevity in congestive heart failure
The life expectancy of people with heart failure depends on the severity of the failure, the person’s age, etc., timely identification and early initiation of medical procedures will help you to have a proper lifestyle with careful management and control of the condition.
Consequences and consequences of congestive heart failure
- Heart valve problems
- Decreased blood flow to the kidneys can cause serious damage to the kidneys and even cause kidney failure, and the person may experience signs and symptoms of kidney failure.
- Fluid retention in the liver can lead to liver damage and liver failure. The enlarged liver is seen in the upper and right abdomen and under the ribs of a person with advanced congestive heart failure.
- Arrhythmias:
It is one of the most serious and important complications in people with heart failure
Causes of congestive heart failure
- Not allowing enough blood to flow through blocked arteries
- Cardiac muscle damage from a previous heart attack
- Presence of heart defects from birth
- Infection of the heart or heart valves
- High blood pressure
- Valvular heart disease
- Heart muscle disease
Stages of congestive heart failure
Once heart failure is identified, it is important to evaluate heart failure. Providing a complete and accurate history of symptoms is essential.
The steps are as follows:
Stage A has a high risk of heart failure:
A patient has one or more risk factors for developing heart failure.
Stage B, asymptomatic heart failure:
This stage includes patients who have an enlarged or dysfunctional left ventricle for any reason, but are asymptomatic.
Stage C, symptomatic heart failure:
The patient experiences symptoms of heart failure, shortness of breath, fatigue, inability to exercise and so on.
Stage D, refractory heart failure:
Despite medical treatment, the patient shows signs of heart failure at rest.
The New York Heart Association classifies patients based on physical limitations. The classifications are as follows:
The first class:
Has no restrictions on physical activity and no symptoms in normal activities.
The second class:
Has few restrictions, there are few symptoms in normal activities.
The third class:
Has limitations and there are symptoms in normal activities.
The fourth grade:
is severely restricted and there are symptoms of heart failure at rest.
How is congestive heart failure treated?
- rest
- Eat less salt and foods containing salt.
- In some cases, surgery may be necessary.
- Your doctor may prescribe medications to strengthen your heart or give you “dehydrating or diuretic” pills to flush out excess water.
When should we see a doctor?
If you experience the following symptoms, an emergency visit to an equipped medical center and immediate start of treatment is required:
- Chest pain
- Feeling of pressure on the chest
- Severe shortness of breath
- Cough with bloody sputum
- Severe weakness and disability