Heart Failure Overview

Heart failure, or coronary failure, is a fatal circumstance in which the patient’s heart stops pumping enough blood to the body. The ailment usually affects one particular side of the patient’s heart, either the right side or the left side. These are known as right-sided heart failure and left-sided heart failure.

Symptoms of heart failure can be observed when the heart ceases to pump enough blood in and out of the heart. This state of heart malfunctioning is technically called systolic heart failure. Another sign of heart failure is when the heart muscles go stiff and are unable to pump blood with ease. This particular situation is technically referred to as diastolic heart failure.

Due to the inability of the heart to pump blood to the rest of the body parts, there is fluid accumulation in the gastrointestinal tract, lungs, legs, liver and arms. This is known as congestive heart failure or more commonly as CHF among physicians. Infections in the heart can also lead to heart failure. This state is known as cardiomyopathy. However, out of all causes, the most prevalent cause of heart breakdown is coronary artery disease or CAD. In this condition, blood vessels that supply the necessary oxygen and blood to the heart, narrow down drastically.

It is observed that symptoms of this fatal disease become apparent only with time. One might notice breathing issues in the beginning, later a few other symptoms are seen even when you are at rest. On the other hand, there are cases when symptoms start appearing suddenly, for instance, after another heart treatment or even after a heart attack.

Other common symptoms include excess urination during night hours, faintness, breath shortage especially when you lie down, fatigue, swollen ankles and feet, cough, irregular pulse, loss of appetite, enlarged abdomen and liver, weight gain etc.

Physicians can carry out certain tests to diagnose the presence of heart or coronary disease. MRI of the patient’s heart is the most significant test. There are nuclear heart scans and cardiac stress tests as well to diagnose the disease. Heart catheterization is another imaging test that is performed.

Supervising and self aid is the first step any physician would tell you to do to keep away from the disease. In case you suffer from heart failure, follow up with the doctor and make sure that you adhere to his instructions. You should get all the tests done as advised by him. When at home, keep track of all major/minor changes observed in your body.

Follow your medication courses properly as they will help treat your symptoms and curb the heart failure from expanding and getting worse. The medication course may last for as long as an year. Avoid intake of any new food item that might contain a drug or herb without consulting your doctor.

By taking proper medicines, altering your basic lifestyle and by curing the underlying condition that was responsible for coronary failure, you can easily win over heart failures.