Congestive heart failure is something that affects more people in the world than you would believe. This is when the heart’s function is not able to work as much as the body requires it to. This often means that the pumping is not enough. There are a number of congestive heart failure symptoms that you should look out for but also other information that you should know about.

What Is Congestive Heart Failure?

The condition is basically when the heart does not pump enough to get the oxygen around the body. This can occur for a variety of reasons, including a disease that weakens the muscles in the heart, a disease that makes the muscles stiffen or a disease that means the body needs more oxygen than the heart is able to deliver.

Congestive Heart Failure SymptomsThe two ventricles help to keep the heart pumping but these muscles can be weakened easily. Just simple infections or toxins can create the problem.

Heart attacks also have an effect, which will cause the chronic heart failure symptoms to appear.

High blood pressure is one of the most common reasons for the condition and affects the muscles by making them stiffer.

The condition will not just affect the heart. Because of the lack of oxygen being pumped around the body, there are other organs that are affected by this problem. The kidneys are one of the most commonly effected. The blood is required to help with the normal ability, without that the kidney will hold onto the fluid instead of getting rid of it.

The lungs also start to become congested because the amount of the exercise that can be done is decreased. Fluid will also accumulate in other organs, which will decrease the chances of the organs working in the way that they were intended to. The intestines also fail to work correctly; they are unable to absorb some of the nutrients that are required and will lead to medicines not being absorbed completely.

The Causes of Congestive Heart Failure

Before looking into the congestive heart failure symptoms, it is important to look into how the condition occurs. There are many causes of the condition, including coronary artery disease and high blood pressure. People with a history of alcohol abuse or disorders with the valves in the heart may also develop the problem.

There are also some other conditions that may develop into congestive heart failure. One of those is problems with the thyroid, including hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism. This is one of the less common reasons but is still something that you should look out for.

There are some conditions and medications that may lead to the failure developing. This is something that a physician should talk to you about so that you know everything you can about the risks.

Anything that causes retention of sodium or affects the amount of power that the heart muscles are able to offer is linked to the cause of the disease. Anti-inflammatory drugs are some of those that are linked to the failure, as well as steroids and diabetes medication.

Congestive Heart Failure Symptoms

There are a number of symptoms that you should be aware of when it comes to this condition. The symptoms will also vary between patients due to the different organ systems that are affected and involved. The problem is some of the organs will help the body due to the problems with the heart; because of this, one of the earliest and most common symptoms is fatigue.

The body has to do a lot of work, which leads to becoming tired a lot. Another problem is that the oxygen is not getting around the body either, which gets the energy around.

The heart failure leads to the organs filling with fluid. This leads to swelling around the body, especially around the ankles or legs. This is something that not all patients will notice because sometimes the fluid is just collected in the organs, which offer different symptoms.

The fluid that can develop in the lungs often leads to patients suffering with shortness of breath. This is often noticed while laying flat or while doing exercise. There are some patients who complain of waking gasping for some air during the night. This can also lead to insomnia due to the inability to breathe.