Congestive Heart Failure Symptoms & Treatment
Grocery Shopping for Heart Health
Listen NowEvery organ in your body relies on an uninterrupted flow of blood to stay healthy. Heart failure occurs when an underlying problem restricts your heart’s ability to pump out blood efficiently and meet the needs of your body.
At Riverside Medical Center, our award-winning Heart Failure Clinic helps patients with this potentially debilitating condition improve their quality of life and avoid hospitalization. While there is no cure for heart failure, our cardiac specialists offer an array of treatments that can help you manage the condition and get back to what you need and love to do. The Heart Failure Clinic works with you and your physician to customize a plan that’s right for you.
To request an appointment close to home, call (844) 404-4787 or fill out our quick form. Or, find a Riverside heart failure specialist anytime online.
Could It Be Heart Failure?
No two cases of heart failure area alike. The severity of symptoms depends on how much of the heart's pumping capacity may have been lost or damaged. The severity of symptoms depends on how much of the heart's pumping capacity may have been lost or damaged. Individuals typically develop some or all of the following symptoms:
- Shortness of breath, which can occur during physical exertion or at rest
- Weight gain
- Swollen legs, ankles and, occasionally, the abdomen (caused by fluid retention)
- Fatigue and weakness
- Nausea and loss of appetite
- Persistent cough, often producing mucus or blood-tinged sputum
- Reduced urination
How Do Doctors Diagnose Heart Failure?
If your doctor suspects you may have heart failure, he or she will first review your medical history and conduct a full physical examination. Next, you may undergo one or more other diagnostic tests to evaluate your heart function, such as:
- Blood tests: A lab can analyze a sample of your blood to determine whether you have any conditions related to heart failure, such as anemia or a thyroid problem. Lab tests can also check for a chemical called B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP), which is associated with heart failure.
- Chest X-ray: An x-ray can detect certain signs of heart failure, such as enlargement of the heart and fluid in the lungs.
- Echocardiogram: Using sound waves, an echocardiogram creates a video image of your heart, which provides doctors with important information about its size and how well it’s pumping blood.
- Electrocardiogram (ECG): By measuring your heart’s electrical activity, a doctor can determine if it’s beating with an erratic rhythm or has an enlarged chamber, which may contribute to heart failure.
Your doctor may also use the following tests to learn more about your heart and how it’s functioning:
- Exercise stress test: By monitoring your heart’s activity with ECG while you walk on a treadmill, your doctor can see whether it is able to supply your body with adequate blood flow.
- Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): Your doctor may recommend a cardiac MRI to obtain an image of your heart’s structure and determine if it has sustained any damage that’s interfering with healthy pumping of blood.
- Cardiac catheterization: Using a slender tube inserted in a blood vessel in the groin or arm, a doctor will inject contrast dye that allows for creation of a special x-ray called an angiogram, which can reveal blockages in the arteries that may block blood flow and weaken the heart’s pumping muscles.
Why Did I Develop Heart Failure?
Heart failure occurs when the heart is overstressed or damaged, which happens for many different reasons. Certain congenital birth defects can cause heart failure, and the disease can arise as a result of other conditions such as heart rhythm disorders (arrhythmias) and defective heart valves. Some people who suffer heart attacks later develop heart failure, too. Importantly, many unhealthy lifestyle choices can cause or contribute to heart failure, including:
- Smoking
- Eating foods high in saturated fat and cholesterol foods
- Consuming too much salt
- Failing to exercise regularly
- Abusing alcohol or drugs
Treating Heart Failure
The staff at our Heart Failure Clinic will create a treatment regimen that accommodates your specific needs, preferences and the severity of your heart failure. In addition to recommending lifestyle changes that may benefit you (such as losing weight or quitting smoking), your doctor can offer a variety of therapies, including:
- Medications: Your doctor can prescribe different medicines to help manage your symptoms, slow the progression of heart failure and possibly even reverse some damage to your heart’s tissue.
- Surgery: A defective heart valve and severely clogged coronary arteries can cause and worsen heart failure. Surgical repair of these conditions (with heart valve replacement and coronary bypass) can improve symptoms.
- Implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD): Typically used in patients with severe heart failure or arrhythmias, an ICD prevents the heart from beating in an erratic, and life-threatening, rhythm.
- Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT; also known as biventricular pacing): A special pacemaker that’s the size of a half dollar coin is implanted in the upper chest and connected by small wires to the heart. CRT delivers brief pulses of electricity to restore regular heart rhythm when the lower chambers (ventricles) beat out of sync.
- Left ventricular assist device (LVAD): This implanted device can give a boost to a weakened left ventricle by pumping blood into the aorta, which distributes blood to the rest of the body. LVADs are sometimes used in patients awaiting heart transplants.
Heart Healthy Grocery Guide
A heart-healthy diet starts with having the right foods at home, but where do you start? The Riverside Heart & Vascular Institute Heart Failure Clinic has partnered with a local grocer to provide a grocery guide tailored to fit the needs of patients with congestive heart failure. To view the complete guide, click here
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