Heart Disease: What is Heart Failure?
At a very basic level,
heart failure means the heart is unable to pump blood as well as it should.
Heart failure, even though it sounds bad, doesn't mean your heart has
completely stopped working. Symptoms and treatments will vary, depending on the
type of heart failure you have.
Risk factors include:
- Heart attack
- High blood pressure
- Heart or heart valve
damage
- History of heart
problems or murmurs
- Enlargement of the heart
or family history of enlarged heart
- Diabetes
Right-sided Heart Failure
Right-sided heart
failure is a condition in which the right side of the heart loses its ability
to pump blood efficiently. Right-sided heart failure occurs in about one in 20
people.
The right
ventricle loses its pumping function and blood may back up into other areas of
the body, which produces congestion. This congestion affects the
gastrointestinal tract, the limbs, and the liver. Additionally, the right
ventricle may be unable to efficiently pump blood through the lungs to the left
ventricle.
Symptoms
- Fatigue, weakness and
fainting
- Swelling of feet and
ankles
- Shortness of breath
- Irregular fast heartbeat
- Urinating more
frequently at night
- Palpitations
- Pronounced neck veins
Left-sided Heart Failure
Left-sided heart
failure is a life-threatening condition in which the left side of the heart
cannot pump enough blood to the body. The left side of the heart receives blood
rich in oxygen from the lungs and pumps it to the remainder of the body. As the
ability to pump this blood is decreased, the body does not receive enough
oxygen.
This condition
becomes more prevalent with age and occurs in approximately one to three of
every 100 people.
According to the
American Heart Association if the left
ventricle loses its ability to contract normally (called systolic failure),
the heart can't pump with enough force to push enough blood into circulation.
If the ventricle loses its ability to relax normally (diastolic failure)
because the muscle has become stiff, the heart can't properly fill with blood
during the resting period between each beat.
Symptoms
- Shortness of
breath
- Irregular or
rapid pulse
- Weight gain from
fluid retention
- Decreased urine
production
- Difficulty lying
down
- Cough (produces
frothy or blood-tinged mucus)
- Palpitations
