Heart Failure
You may feel frightened
or upset if you hear that you or someone in
your family has been told they have heart failure. However,
with treatment and drugs many people live full and
active lives.
What is heart failure?
Heart failure means that for some reason, your heart is
not pumping blood around the body as well as it
used to. The most common reason is that your heart
muscle has been damaged, for example, after a heart
attack.
What causes heart failure?
There are lots of reasons why you might be
diagnosed with heart failure. It can be sudden or
it can happen slowly over months or even years.
Some causes of heart failure are:
What are the signs and symptoms of heart failure?
Not everyone experiences the same symptoms and everyone copes in
different ways. There are four different stages of
heart failure and so your symptoms will vary from stage to stage.
You might feel out of breath if you are physically
active or for some people even at rest. You may also have
swollen feet and ankles and feel very tired.
How is heart failure diagnosed?
Your doctor will ask you questions about your medical
history and talk to you about what has caused your heart
failure. The reason for your condition will make a
difference to how your symptoms are
controlled. You may need to have tests which include
blood tests, an electrocardiogram (ECG) and an
echocardiogram.
How is heart failure treated?
While there isn't a cure for heart failure, the treatment
to control symptoms has improved
dramatically. Your doctor will prescribe drugs that
will help control your blood pressure and help the
pumping action of your heart.
They will also give you advice about making
changes to your lifestyle that will help you do all
the things that you enjoy, improve your condition and live a
normal life. These include:
- cutting down on salt
- eating a healthy balanced diet
- stop smoking
- keeping active
For more information about living with heart failure, order or
download our Everyday
guide to living with heart failure If you are caring for someone with a
long-term heart condition like heart failure, it can be
physically and emotionally demanding for you too.
Therefore, it is important that you look after
yourself as well. There are many voluntary
organisations that can help and support you.
You may also find it helpful to join a heart support
group where you can talk to other people with heart
conditions. To find out where your nearest heart support group is,
please call the
Heart HelpLine on 0300 330
3311 (local rate number) for more information.
You may find some of the following booklets helpful too:
Useful links
Heart Failure Matters
website - run by the European Society of
Cardiology (ESC) and the Heart Failure of the ESC.
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