Heart failure, often called congestive heart failure or CHF, is a condition in which the heart fails to pump ample amount of blood to satisfy the body’s need. Over time, certain conditions like high blood pressure or coronary artery disease eventually makes the heart weak and stiff to fill and then pump blood efficiently.

Though the conditions that lead to congestive heart failure are irreversible, yet there are ways to treat the condition efficiently through medications and lifestyle alterations. Medications can aid in improving the symptoms of congestive heart failure gradually, thus increasing the chances of survival. Some lifestyle changes like exercising, managing stress, reducing salt consumption, preventing stress and depression and losing body weight can help in preventing the fluid build up, thus improving the over all quality of life.

The only way of preventing congestive heart failure is by controlling the associated risk factors and also managing any underlying conditions like high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, high cholesterol, obesity and diabetes effectively and aggressively.

Congestive heart failure gradually develops to become chronic; the process of development is usually slow. It is a chronic and long-term condition, though the symptoms might not manifest at the very initial stages. You are likely to experience the symptoms almost suddenly without any prior signs and this condition is known as acute heart failure. “Congestive heart failure” – the term has been derived from the condition in which blood backs up into the liver, lungs, abdomen and the lower extremities, thus causing congestion.

Congestive heart failure can be categorized into different types and the symptoms of each of these types vary. Noted below are the various types of heart failure and its associated symptoms:

Type 1: Chronic heart failure

This is a long-term complication with persisting signs and symptoms. The symptoms of this condition include—

 Weakness and fatigue
 Irregular or raid heartbeat
 Breathlessness or dyspnea during activities
 Inability to exercise
 Persistent cough followed by wheezing with blood and mucus
 Swelling of the legs, feet and ankles
 Swelling of the abdomen
 Rapid weight gain
 Appetite loss and nausea
 Decreased alertness

 

 

Type 2: Acute heart failure

This is an emergency situation where something affects your heart and its ability to work almost suddenly. The symptoms are quite similar to that of chronic heart failure, but are severe in nature and include

 Sudden fluid development
 Irregular or rapid heartbeat accompanied by palpitations
 Severe breathlessness and cough
 Chest pain

After diagnosing whether the condition is acute or chronic, the doctor would have to detect which part of the heart has been affected. There are symptoms to identify the effected part of the heart as well.

 Left-sided Heart failure: This is the most common one and is characterized by shortness of your breath and backing up of blood and fluids in the lungs.
 Right-sided heart failure: This condition is mostly accompanied with left-sided heart failure in which the blood and fluids tend to back up into the abdomen, feet and legs, thus causing inflammation.
 Systolic heart failure: In this case, the left ventricle fills to contract vigorously, thus creating pumping problems.
 Diastolic heart failure: Also known as heart failure with normal ejection fraction where the left ventricle fails to relax or fill up fully, thus creating filling problems.

Filed under: Congestive Heart Failure Signs Symptoms

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