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- Causes
- What Causes Heart Failure?
- Diagnosis
- How Is Heart Failure Diagnosed?
- Treatment
- What Is the Treatment for Heart Failure?
- Guide
Heart failure is what happens when the heart fails to pump and cannot circulate oxygen-rich blood throughout the body normally. Warning signs and symptoms of heart failure include shortness of breath, chronic coughing or wheezing, swelling, fatigue, loss of appetite, and others.
Heart failure means the heart has failed to pump the way it should in order to circulate oxygen-rich blood throughout the body.
Warning signs and symptoms of heart failure include:
- Shortness of breath
- Commonly occurs at rest or when sleeping
- May worsen at night when lying flat and patients may only be able to sleep sitting up
- Chronic coughing or wheezing
- Cough may produce white or pink blood-tinged mucus
- Accumulation of excess fluid in the body’s tissues (edema)
- Fatigue/tiredness all the time
- Loss of appetite
- Feeling full all the time
- Nausea
- Confusion
- Problems thinking
- Memory loss
- Disorientation
- Heart palpitations
- Lightheadedness
- Exercise intolerance
- Chest pain (rare)
What Causes Heart Failure?
Heart failure is caused by a weakened or thickened heart muscle.
Most people who develop heart failure have another heart condition, including:
- Abnormal heart rhythm (arrhythmia or dysrhythmia)
- Abnormal heart valves
- Heart disease present at birth (congenital heart disease)
- Coronary artery disease
- Heart muscle disease (dilated cardiomyopathy, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy) or inflammation (myocarditis)
- High blood pressure (hypertension)
- Previous heart attack
Risk factors for developing heart failure include:
- Obesity
- Smoking
- Unhealthy diet (including animal fat and salt)
- Sedentary lifestyle
- Diabetes
- Severe lung disease
- Sleep apnea
- Alcohol abuse
- Vitamin deficiencies
- Heavy metal toxicity
- Severe anemia (low red blood cell count)
- Overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism)
How Is Heart Failure Diagnosed?
Heart failure is diagnosed with a physical exam which includes a doctor listening to the heart with a stethoscope.
Tests to help diagnose heart failure include:
- Blood tests
- Electrolytes such as sodium and potassium
- Albumin
- Creatinine
- Certain biomarkers including B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and N-terminal-pro-BNP (NT-pro-BNP)
- Exercise stress test
- Chest X-ray
- Echocardiography (“echo”)
- Electrocardiograms (ECG or EKG)
- Cardiac catheterization
- Radionuclide ventriculography or multiple-gated acquisition scanning (MUGA)
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
What Is the Treatment for Heart Failure?
Heart failure is treated with lifestyle and diet changes, medications, and sometimes implanted devices. In severe cases, a heart transplant may be needed.
Lifestyle changes to treat heart failure include:
- Quitting smoking
- Limiting liquid intake to reduce fluid buildup
- Eating a heart-healthy diet low in fat and sodium and high in fiber (plant-based diets may be helpful for heart patients)
- Exercising regularly
- Losing weight
- Limiting or avoiding alcohol
- Limiting or avoiding caffeine
- Practicing stress reduction techniques such as meditation or yoga
- Controlling blood pressure
- Getting adequate sleep
- Getting regular flu and pneumonia vaccinations
Medications used to treat heart failure and improve heart muscle function include:
