Living with Congestive Heart Disease

Heart failure may convey that the heart isn’t working anymore, but what it really means is that the heart isn’t pumping as well as it should be (REF). Heart failure is a chronic, progressive condition in which the heart muscle is unable to pump enough blood through to meet the body’s needs for blood and oxygen (REF). At first, the heart tries to make up for this by enlarging, developing more muscle mass, and pumping faster. As this happens, the blood vessels narrow to keep blood pressure up and the body diverts blood away from less important tissues and organs to maintain flow to the heart and brain (REF). Eventually, the body and heart cannot keep up and the patient begins to feel fatigue, breathing problems, weight gain with swelling in the feet, legs, ankles or stomach, and other symptoms that eventually leads to a hospital visit. The body’s coping mechanisms give us better understanding on why many are unaware of their condition until years after the heart declines (REF).

Congestive cardiac failure, also known as heart failure, occurs when the heart is weak and unable to sufficiently supply blood the body needs to function. Heart failure can often be successfully treated with

ECG: sinus tachycardia with waveform abnormalities consistent with LVH, Pronounced Q waves consistent with pulmonary edema.

Nearly 5.1 million people in the United States have been diagnosed with heart failure. Yet so many people don’t have a clue what it is until they have been diagnosed with it. Congestive Heart Failure, or CHF, is a disease that has many symptoms, can be tested and treated, has several causes, and can be avoided.

After a period of time, the heart muscles of the left ventricle begin to weaken. The weakening of the left ventricle will lead to decreased empting of the heart (systolic heart failure) which results in decreased cardiac output again. Since the left ventricle does not empty completely, blood begins to back up into the left atrium and then to the pulmonary circulation thus resulting in pulmonary congestion and dyspnea (Story 2012, 104). If left untreated, the blood will back up and affect the right side of the heart causing biventricular heart failure (both right and left heart failure). In right sided heart failure, the right ventricle weakens and cannot empty completely. This incomplete emptying causes blood to back up into the systemic circulation causing systemic edema (Lewis et al. 2014, 771).

Congestive Heart Failure is when the heart's pumping power is weaker than normal. It does not mean the heart has stopped working. The blood moves through the heart and body at a slower rate, and pressure in the heart increases. This means; the heart cannot pump enough oxygen and nutrients to meet the body's needs. The chambers of the heart respond by stretching to hold more blood to pump through the body or by becoming more stiff and thickened. This only keeps the blood moving for a short while. The heart muscle walls weaken and are unable to pump as strongly. This makes the kidneys respond by causing the body to retain fluid and sodium. When the body builds up with fluids, it becomes congested. Many conditions can cause heart

In left-sided congestive heart failure the left ventricle weakens and cannot empty which results in decreased cardiac output to the system which in turn leads to pressure elevation in the left atrium and pulmonary vessels and capillaries, the ensuing decreased renal blood flow stimulates rennin-angiotensin and aldosterone secretion the resulting high pressure in the pulmonary capillaries leads to the exudation of fluid into the pulmonary interstitial tissue and alveoli which causes pulmonary congestion or edema. In right-sided congestive heart failure the right ventricle weakens and cannot empty which also results in decreased cardiac output and the secretion of rennin-angiotensin and aldosterone however, this leads to a backup of blood into the systemic circulation via the venae cavae. The increased venous pressure results in edema in the legs, liver and abdominal organs. (Tsai 2005)

Congestive Heart failure: Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) is a cardiac disease associated with the decreasing capacity of the cardiac output. It has been shown that the CHF is the main cause of cardiac death around the world (Lucena, Barros, & Ohnishi, 2016). Congestive heart failure is the inability of the left side of the heart to pump an adequate amount of blood due to certain conditions. Because of these conditions, the heart become weak and unable to pump all of the blood forward and some of

Is the condition where the heart is not pumping the right amount of blood to the rest of the body as it should be

Congestive heart failure is an older name for heart failure. Congestive heart failure takes place when the heart is unable to maintain an adequate circulation of blood in the bodily tissues or to pump out the venous blood returned to it by the veins (Merriam-Webster). The heart is split into two distinct pumping structures, the right side of the heart and the left side of the heart. Appropriate cardiac performance involves each ventricle to extract even quantities of blood over intervals. If the volume of blood reimbursed to the heart develops more than both ventricles can manage, the heart can no longer be an efficient pump.

I. Description: Congestive Heart Failure is more of a syndrome than a disease. Heart failure may be classified according to the side of the heart affected, (left- or right-sided failure), or by the cardiac cycle involved, (systolic or diastolic dysfunction). (Schilling-McCann p. 176). The word "failure" refers to the heart's inability to pump enough blood to meet the body's metabolic needs. (Schilling-McCann p. 176). When the heart fails to deliver adequate blood supply edema may develop. (Cadwallader p. 1141). Where edema occurs depends on what side of the heart is failing.

In the United States, over 5 million patients have heart failure (HF) and approximately 20 million patients have chronic kidney disease (CKD). Both conditions are linked by multiple risk factors including obesity, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, tobacco abuse, and increasing age. The presence of HF increases the risk of CKD and vice versa. Nearly one third of all patients with HF and 70% of Medicare patients with HF have Stage III CKD or greater and approximately 50% of dialysis dependent end stage renal disease (ESRD) patients will develop HF.

Recent studies conducted in the US showed that the most common cause of heart failure is also hypertension in combination with ischemic heart disease or without it. Euro Heart Survey Study, conducted in 2001, analyzed the share etiologic CHF factors: the most common cause of this condition in Europe is coronary artery disease - 60%, valvular heart disease - 14%, dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) - 11%, hypertension - 4 % of

Heart failure describes the heart’s inability to function properly, meaning the heart is unable to pump efficiently throughout the body. Thus causing the heart to work extra hard in order to compensate the body’s needs, but this ultimately leads to failure. And due to Mrs. Harris’s hypertension and alcohol consumption, she is now displaying signs and symptoms of congestive heart failure, as both are major risk factors. Heart failure can be seen in the left side, which is also known as congestive heart failure, and the right side of heart. The left side is typically the first side to fail, as the left ventricle is the heart’s largest chamber and the most powerful.

The second problem is the patient is suffering from congestive heart failure. This means the patient's heart is not able to pump sufficient amounts of blood to meet the body's needs. Congestive heart failure can be caused by coronary artery disease or hypertension.