The terms “heart failure” or “congestive heart failure,” while scary, are not cardiac arrest - where the heart has actually stopped or failed. Rather, they refer to an often long-term, chronic condition where the heart fails to function properly, and one or more chambers of the heart fail to keep up with the volume of blood flowing through them.
Causes of Heart Failure
Heart failure can be brought on by a number of underlying diseases or health problems, and symptoms of heart failure often begin slowly, appearing at first during periods of heavy physical activity and continuing to worsen until the symptoms are present even after periods of rest. In some cases, such as in the case of a heart that’s been damaged by a heart attack, the symptoms may appear suddenly.
The most common causes of heart failure are:
● Coronary artery disease (CAD), which is a narrowing of the small blood vessels that supply blood flow and oxygen to the heart. This can weaken the heart muscle over time, or, depending on the severity of the narrowing, can cause immediate damage.
● Uncontrolled high blood pressure can lead to problems with cardiac stiffness, which can eventually lead to the weakening of the heart muscle.
You may want to make an appointment to meet with your healthcare provider or seek emergency medical attention if you have a combination of the following symptoms, or if one symptom is severe enough to cause you distress:
Breathlessness or Shortness of Breath
When your heart begins to fail, blood backs up in the veins that are attempting to carry oxygenated blood from the lungs to the heart, which further causes fluid to pool in the lungs. As this happens, your lung capacity becomes limited, interfering with normal breathing. You may begin by feeling out of breath during exercise or other physical activities, and as your heart failure worsens, you may have shortness of breath while resting or sleeping.
Fatigue
Our bodies require a certain amount of blood flow to get enough oxygen to our tissues. As our heart failure worsens, the heart is unable to pump enough blood to meet the body’s demands. To compensate for this, the body diverts blood from less crucial areas, including arms and legs, to maintain an adequate supply to the heart and brain. As a result, patients with heart failure will often state that they feel weakness, particularly in the extremities. They also experience fatigue and have a hard time performing normal, everyday activities, such as walking, climbing stairs, carrying groceries, or walking a pet.
Chronic Cough or Wheezing
As a heart failure patient’s lungs begin to fill with fluid, they will put up quite a protest. People who are experiencing heart failure will often report a persistent cough or wheezing, with or without phlegm, that may be tinged with blood. This is the body’s way of letting you know there’s something in our lungs that the organs want out, stat.
Rapid or Irregular Heartbeat
As the heart struggles to adequately pump blood throughout the body, the heart may speed up in compensation. Patients may feel heart palpitations, or fluttering, or experience a heartbeat that seems irregular or out of rhythm, often described by patients as a pounding or racing of the heart.
Lack of Appetite or Nausea
When the liver and digestive systems become congested they don’t receive a normal blood supply, causing you to feel queasy or full, even if you haven’t eaten a thing.
Confusion or Impaired Thinking
Abnormal levels of certain substances, like sodium (salt), in the bloodstream, combined with reduced blood flow to the brain can cause confusion, disorientation or memory loss. In some patients, this is a frustrating symptom of heart disorders, while others are unaware of it.
Edema
Because the body has diverted blood flow away from less significant body organs to preserve flow to the heart and brain, blood flow to the kidneys is restricted. This causes the kidneys to produce hormones that lead to salt and water retention, which leads to edema, or swelling, most often in the feet, ankles and legs. This swelling may be just uncomfortable or may be very painful.
Rapid Weight Gain
The fluid build-up throughout the body as a result of the production of water-retaining hormones by the kidneys can cause you to gain weight quickly or appear puffy and swollen.
Increased Nighttime Urination
With so much extra fluid in the body, patients with congestive heart failure often report increased nighttime urination, which is the body’s way of trying to expel the excess fluid that has been building up.
Chest Pain
Especially if your heart failure has been triggered by a heart attack, chest pain is a symptom of congestive heart failure.
Seek Help Immediately
Each of these symptoms alone may not be a cause for alarm. It may be an indication of another, less serious illness or condition. However, these warning signs can also indicate the presence of life-threatening heart and lung conditions. And, in the case of heart failure, early detection is key to intervention with as little damage to the heart as possible.
It’s important that you don’t try to diagnose yourself, and if you’re experiencing the symptoms above, you should call 911 or pay a visit to your local emergency room for a thorough cardiac examination. If you’ve already been diagnosed with heart failure and you develop new or worsened symptoms, it may mean that your current heart failure is not responding to treatment. You should call your doctor or visit an ER promptly, depending on the severity of the symptoms.