Congestive heart failure or heart failure is a condition in which the heart cannot pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs. Heart failure does not mean that your heart has stopped working. It means that your heart is not working as well as it should and is unable to fulfill the body’s metabolic needs, like oxygen and glucose. Many people live with undiagnosed heart failure and only come to the hospital when symptoms are unbearable.
Let’s learn more about the mild and severe symptoms of congestive heart failure and where you can go for comprehensive medical care in Sherman, TX.
The Mechanism of Congestive Heart Failure
To understand the symptoms comprehensively, you should also look at how heart failure works. The causes of heart failure include structural or cardiovascular diseases. These include previous myocardial infarction, chronic hypertension, and valvular abnormalities (e.g., aortic stenosis). These diseases impair the contractility of your heart and make it unfit for pumping blood out of it, leading to the pooling of blood. Eventually, the pooling increases the back pressure towards the lungs and the right side of your heart.
Mild Symptoms of Heart Failure
Mild symptoms of congestive heart failure may not be noticeable at first. You may not have any symptoms at all. The mild symptoms are often considered insignificant and mistaken as general fatigue. Symptoms of mild heart failure can include:
- Shortness of breath when you exert yourself or when you lie down flat – when you lie down, there is more blood pooling and back pressure towards the lungs. This reduces the oxygen exchange in your lungs, leading to shortness of breath.
- Fatigue (tiredness) – decreased oxygen diffusion through the lungs makes you feel tired very quickly
- A fast heartbeat
- Swelling in your ankles, feet, legs, abdomen, and veins in your neck – the back pressure of pooled up blood eventually increases pressure in your veins which causes ‘pitting edema’.
Severe Symptoms of Heart Failure
Severe symptoms of congestive heart failure are more serious than mild symptoms. They can include all of the above symptoms, as well as:
- Shortness of breath with minimal activity, such as walking across a room or taking a shower
- Difficulty sleeping because of shortness of breath or dry coughing.
- Waking up at night gasping for air
- Swelling in your abdomen
- Visible neck vein pulses
- Weight gain from fluid retention (retaining fluid)
- Chest pain
- Confusion
- Cyanosis – blue tinging of the lips or tips of the fingers due to inadequate oxygenation
Heart failure is a condition in which the heart cannot pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs. It can lead to mild, moderate, or severe symptoms depending on how well your heart is pumping. Mild symptoms may not be noticeable, and you may not have any symptoms at all. If you do have symptoms, they may be so mild that you don’t think anything of them.
Cardiovascular Disease Treatment in Sherman, TX
If you or your loved ones have any cardiovascular disease and experience any of these symptoms, contact Carrus Specialty Hospital. Our team consists of multi-specialty board-certified physicians who will work together to ensure that your congestive heart failure symptoms are managed the right way.
To know more or schedule an appointment, call us today at (903) 870-2000 or request an appointment online.
