Heart Failure

What is Heart Failure?

Heart failure is a chronic condition that affects the heart’s ability to pump blood effectively. This means your heart cannot supply enough oxygen and nutrients to meet your body’s needs, leading to symptoms like shortness of breath, fatigue, and swelling in your legs and ankles. It can make everyday activities challenging and affect your quality of life. While heart failure can be a serious health issue, many people live full and active lives with the right treatment and lifestyle changes.

Symptoms

The symptoms of heart failure can vary depending on the severity and type of heart failure you have. Common symptoms include:

– Shortness of breath, especially during exercise, but even when lying down or bending over

– Fatigue and weakness

– Swelling in your legs, ankles, feet, or abdomen

– Sudden weight gain due to fluid retention

– Persistent cough or wheezing, especially when lying down

– Increased or irregular heart rate or palpitations

If you experience any of these symptoms, it’s important to see your doctor. Early diagnosis and treatment can improve your quality of life.

Types of Heart Failure

Heart failure can be classified into two main types: heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF).

HFrEF occurs when the heart muscle becomes weak and doesn’t pump blood effectively around the body. This is identified on an echocardiogram (heart ultrasound), which directly assesses the heart’s pumping function. HFrEF has specific treatments and medications that can be very effective in helping your heart’s function to improve and manage symptoms.
HFpEF occurs when the heart muscle becomes stiff and doesn’t relax properly, leading to a rise in pressure within the heart and lungs. This typically results in exertional symptoms such as breathlessness and fatigue. HFpEF can be very difficult to diagnose and is best done by experts who can identify the problem (often using exercise testing or by directly measuring the pressures within the heart), exclude more serious causes, and implement a personalised approach to management including medications, lifestyle adjustments, and close monitoring to alleviate symptoms and improve quality of life.

Causes

Heart failure can be caused by a variety of conditions that damage or weaken your heart. The most common causes include:

Heart attack: A heart attack damages the heart muscle, affecting its ability to pump blood.
High blood pressure: Over time, untreated high blood pressure can cause the heart to become too stiff or weak to effectively pump blood.
Valvular heart disease: Faulty heart valves can lead to heart failure by forcing the heart to work harder to pump blood.
Arrhythmias: irregular heart rhythms can sometimes lead to heart failure by disrupting the heart’s ability to pump blood effectively.
Diabetes: High blood sugar can damage blood vessels and the heart muscle.
Genetic: Heart failure or cardiomyopathy can sometimes run in families or have an underlying genetic cause.
Chemotherapy: certain cancer treatments can damage or weaken the heart muscle (known as cardiotoxicity).
Other factors: These can include excessive alcohol or drug use, obesity, severe lung disease, or infections, inflammatory conditions that damage the heart, or conditions where abnormal proteins can build up in the heart muscle (like amyloidosis). Sometimes the cause is unexplained (idiopathic).

Management

Managing heart failure involves a combination of medications, lifestyle changes, and sometimes medical procedures. The goals are to relieve symptoms, slow the progression of the disease, and improve your overall health.

Here’s how you can manage heart failure:

Medications

Heart failure can be caused by a variety of conditions that damage or weaken your heart. The most common causes include:

Heart attack: A heart attack damages the heart muscle, affecting its ability to pump blood.
High blood pressure: Over time, untreated high blood pressure can cause the heart to become too stiff or weak to effectively pump blood.
Valvular heart disease: Faulty heart valves can lead to heart failure by forcing the heart to work harder to pump blood.
Arrhythmias: irregular heart rhythms can sometimes lead to heart failure by disrupting the heart’s ability to pump blood effectively.
Diabetes: High blood sugar can damage blood vessels and the heart muscle.
Genetic: Heart failure or cardiomyopathy can sometimes run in families or have an underlying genetic cause.
Chemotherapy: certain cancer treatments can damage or weaken the heart muscle (known as cardiotoxicity).
Other factors: These can include excessive alcohol or drug use, obesity, severe lung disease, or infections, inflammatory conditions that damage the heart, or conditions where abnormal proteins can build up in the heart muscle (like amyloidosis). Sometimes the cause is unexplained (idiopathic).

Lifestyle Changes

Healthy Eating: Follow a heart-healthy diet, such as the Mediterranean diet, which includes plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins. Limit salt, sugar, and unhealthy fats.
Exercise: Regular physical activity can strengthen your heart and improve blood circulation. Aim for moderate exercise, like walking, for at least 30 minutes most days.
Limit Alcohol: Excessive drinking can cause or worsen heart failure.
Weight Management: Maintaining a healthy weight reduces strain on your heart.
Quit Smoking: Smoking damages blood vessels and reduces oxygen in your blood, making heart failure worse.

Medical Procedures

Implantable Devices: Devices like pacemakers or defibrillators can help regulate your heart rhythm and protect you from dangerous arrhythmias.
Surgery: Depending on the cause, surgeries like heart valve repair/replacement or coronary bypass might be necessary.

Regular Check-ups: Regular visits to your doctor are crucial to monitor your condition and adjust your treatment plan as needed.

Learn More

For more detailed information on heart failure, visit the Australian Heart Foundation’s Heart Failure Topics (https://www.heartfoundation.org.au/conditions/heart-failure).

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