If you’ve been diagnosed with heart failure, it can be scary because it sounds like your heart is no longer working. But heart failure doesn’t mean your heart is not working – it just means it’s not working as well as it should. Although it is a serious condition and has no cure, many people with heart failure lead full lives, as long as the condition is managed properly.
What is heart failure?
Heart failure is a condition in which the heart muscle can’t pump well enough to keep up with the body’s demands for oxygen-rich blood. When this happens, a person may experience fatigue, breathing problems and difficulty performing everyday activities.
Is it easy to know if you have heart failure?
In early stages of heart failure, your heart, blood vessels and kidneys try to compensate for the heart’s inability to keep up with the body’s demand for blood and oxygen. The heart may respond by enlarging or pumping faster to increase blood output. The blood vessels may narrow and/or the kidneys may retain more water and salt to keep blood pressure up, which allows the heart to pump stronger. These changes may help for a little while until heart failure worsens.
Because the body has ways to initially compensate for the heart’s diminished capacity to pump enough blood, the best way to know if you have heart failure is to see a doctor. The earlier you find out you have this condition and start treatment, the more likely you can delay the progression of the disease.
What are the signs of heart failure?
The most common signs of this chronic condition include fatigue and shortness of breath. You may also experience these symptoms:
- Persistent coughing or wheezing
- Swelling in feet, ankles, legs, fingers and abdomen
- Heart palpitations (fast heart rate or throbbing)
- Difficulty performing everyday activities due to fatigue and breathing problems
- Sudden and unexplained weight changes
- Digestive problems, such as feeling full, nauseous or not having an appetite
- Memory loss, disorientation or impaired thinking
Symptoms may not be noticeable in the early stages of heart failure because your heart and body try to make up for the heart’s failing ability to pump enough blood. Therefore, you may not notice some or all of these symptoms until the condition gets worse.
When should I see a doctor about heart failure?
If you have any possible symptoms of heart failure or suspect you may have the condition even if you don’t have symptoms, see a doctor. Regular check-ups are also a good way to detect heart failure even when symptoms are not yet noticeable.
How is heart failure diagnosed?
If your doctor suspects you might have heart failure, he or she will typically order blood tests or imaging tests to see how well your heart is working. Blood tests measure how much oxygen and electrolytes are circulating in your blood. An echocardiogram shows the structure and function of your heart. Most notably, it provides information about your heart’s ejection fraction, which measures its ability to pump blood to your body. The lower the number (calculated as a percentage), the harder it is for your heart to keep up with your body’s need for oxygen-rich blood.
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Date Last Reviewed: December 17, 2024
Editorial Review: Andrea Cohen, Editorial Director, Baldwin Publishing, Inc. Contact Editor
Medical Review: Perry Pitkow, MD
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