Sometimes, the people will wonder what is heart failure? It is a fact that the heart failure means that the heart is unable to provide sufficient pump action to maintain blood flow to meet the needs of the body. The heart failure doesn’t mean that the heart has stopped functioning. Some people may feel scared if they have been diagnosed with it. There are more than 5.7 million Americans with the heart failure. It is a condition that can affect the way the heart works and/or its structure. This condition can be managed and treated with many ways.
If you know what is heart failure, you can avoid it to happen by making some lifestyle changes. You may notice that it is important to reduce the amount of salt in the diet as it is a major contributor to the fluid retention that occurs. However, you need to know that the heart failure will cause some symptoms such as shortness of breath, swollen feet, ankles, and legs, abdominal swelling and pain, fatigue, dizziness or fainting, frequent coughing, especially when lying down and sudden death. Therefore, once you have these conditions, it is necessary to find the doctor.
If you don’t know what is heart failure, you can talk to the doctors who will be responsible for answering any question. If the patients with the heart failure go to the hospital, they will be required to undergo some tests such as an electrocardiogram that gives information on the heart rhythm and the size of the heart. Furthermore, this test has the capability of showing whether the heart chamber is enlarged or there is damage to the heart muscle from blocked arteries. Apart from these, you need to understand the most common causes of heart failure like coronary heart disease and heart attack.
When talking about what is heart failure, it not only involves the causes, symptoms but also refers to the treatment. Therefore, the heart failure can be treated with lifestyle changes and medicines as well as the surgery. If the heart failure is in the early stage, it can be cured by the lifestyle and medicines. But if it has develped into the late stage, you have to experience the surgery. To prevent the heart failure, it is important to control the risk factors and conditions that cause heart failure, such as coronary artery disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes or obesity.