Heart is one of the vital organs in humans. The heart itself never stops pumping blood in the body throughout the super long blood vessels that are 100 000 kilometres in length. Throughout a human’s lifetime, the heart never stops pumping blood and never gives up to keep us going with life. Hence, you should be taking care of your heart health so that your heart can keep doing what it should until the end of your time. Having a healthy heart can provide you with a good life and be able to do many things in life with ease. Unfortunately, not everyone will have a healthy heart and they are diagnosed with many heart diseases.
One of the many heart diseases that is common in society is heart failure. Heart failure is a condition of the impaired heart or heart structures that makes the heart unable to pump blood as demanded by the body. It is estimated that there are 63.4 million cases of heart failure in the world. Heart failure is so much more than just a heart that is unable to work properly. It is the reason behind disability and even death. The risk for heart failure in male doubles with each 10 year-age increase after the age of 65 whereas in women it is tripled.
Risk factors are something that increases the chance for developing a disease. This means that the risk for a person to have heart failure increases when a person has one or more risk factors. Risk factors for heart failure include older age, family history of heart failure, unhealthy lifestyle habits such as bad eating habits, smoking, heavy alcohol use, sedentary lifestyle of not engaging in physical activities or drug abuse and other forms of heart diseases, lung diseases or infections.
There are two types of heart failure. The first one is known as systolic heart failure which occurs as the heart muscle is unable to contract with enough force to pump blood in the whole blood circulation system. The second one is known as diastolic heart failure which occurs when the heart contracts normally but the ventricles of the heart are not properly relaxed or have become stiff. This led to less amount of blood being able to enter the heart during the normal blood filling phase in between heartbeats. To determine if heart failure is systolic or diastolic dysfunction, doctors typically run an echocardiogram test to fully evaluate the heart pumping function.
Heart failure is typically caused by coronary artery disease (CAD). CAD is a disease caused by the build-up plaque deposited in the wall of the arteries. The plaque is made up mainly of fats. The build-up will cause the wall to be narrowed and affect the blood supply to the heart. Other causes of heart failure include cardiomyopathy, inflammation of the heart muscle such as endocarditis, congenital heart defects, abnormal heart rhythm (arrhythmia) and heart valve diseases. Conditions that cause the heart to work more than usual can lead to heart failure when it is not tackled accordingly. This includes high blood pressure, kidney disease, diabetes, obesity and bad lifestyle such as alcohol abuse and emotional distress.
Heart failure symptoms range from mild to severe. The symptoms may be constant or come and go. Symptoms depend on the side of the affected heart. Common symptoms include shortness of breath, fatigue even after taking rest, swelling of the lower legs or abdomen, temporary rapid weight gain, difficulty to sleep when lying flat, swelling in the veins of the neck, persistent coughing and nausea. Some people may urinate more than usual and experience chest pain if it is caused by heart attack. Symptoms may also be from kidney or liver damages and malnutrition.
Unfortunately, there is no cure for heart failure. The good news is, there are treatments that help to alleviate symptoms. Common medications used to treat heart failure are antihypertensive drugs such as diuretics, beta-blockers and calcium channel blockers, antiarrhythmic agents such as digoxin and antidiabetic medications. It is worth noting that these medications will be prescribed by a doctor depending on the cause of the heart failure and which benefits the most. In severe cases, heart surgery may be required such as inserting a pacemaker or mechanical heart pump. Heart transplant may be the last resort in such cases. Cardiac rehabilitation program is usually provided to those that have survived heart attack or have gone heart surgery before. This program helps to improve the functional heart capacity, provide knowledge on how to manage patient’s condition themselves and eventually help patients to perform their daily routine. The program also helps patients to better understand in managing their medication and learn what to do in case of worsening symptoms.
In essence, heart failure can be deadly but knowing the risk factors can help a person be more alert and get early treatment. Engaging in a healthy lifestyle is the key to preventing heart failure.
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