Heart Wellness Store » Congestive Heart Failure

Risk Factors for Congestive Heart Disease

admin — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 13:40:00 +0000

Congestive heart disease affects about five million Americans, and several medical professionals believe that within five years time about half of those people will unfortunately die from their state. Congestive heart disease is marked by the heart s inability to pump efficiently enough to supply the body with freshly oxygenated blood. It is the leading cause of hospitalization among senior citizens and accounted for nearly 20% of the hospitalization of this age group in 2003.

Since congestive heart disease is a state that warrants consideration, a brief conversation of several of the risk factors might be in order.There are going to be many times in your lives where something happens and a lot of the factors were those that could not be helped, but there is a boat load of things someone could change about there life in order to lower any risk you may have.

Risk Factors That Cannot be Helped

There are a number of risk factors for congestive heart disease that simply can t be helped. One such factor is a prior heart attack, and age, specifically over the age of 65, is another common factor for this state. Also, there is another important one too and it is a history of diabetes.There is a distinct possibility that congestive heart disease might be one of the few medical conditions that although it is extremely treatable the distance the disease hase gone already cannot be reversed.

Another risk factor that cannot be changed when dealing with congestive heart disease is having a genetic disposition to the disease.Congestive heart disease is something that should be a concern for you if you have a family history of it, or you have Genetic testing done and something comes back postive, Genetic testing will be a sure way for the doctor whether you have congestive heart disease or not.

Risk Factors the Can Be Changed

While some factors that signify the potential for congestive heart disease cannot be helped, there are a number that can. These factors consist of such things as continuing high blood pressure, drug or alcohol abuse, thyroid disease, and even heart valve disease. All these risk factors, especially drug and alcohol abuse can be managed with help from your medical professional or friendly neighborhood physician. The best course of action is talk to your doctor to design a plan to attack congestive heart disease and hopefully stop it from touching your life.

Unfortunately, congestive heart disease is hard to diagnose because it frequently occurs as a result of or in conjunction with other forms of heart disease. Perhaps the best hope for patients with this disease is to catch it early and begin treatment as soon as possible.

Published By Heart Wellness Store

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admin — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 03:15:00 +0000

The one thing that will really change your life in a hurry is a heart attack. This is particularly so if the heart attack is sufficiently serious that it damages a significant portion of the left ventricle. In that case the heart can not pump enough blood through your system to maintain your once “normal” body. You are now a victim of Congestive Heart Failure (CHF).

Congestive Heart Failure Result of Heart Attack

To understand what CHF is and how debilitating it can be, think of CHF as two phrases: “congestive” and “heart failure”. The “heart failure” part is pretty straight forward. For whatever reason, probably a blocked coronary artery called an occlusion, a part of the heart muscle was deprived of oxygen nourishing blood flow and consequently died. That part of the heart muscle no longer works. It no longer contracts to pump blood throughout he body. The result is a lesser amount of blood flowing through your system. That immediately leads to the “congestive” part of the phrase.

As blood is pumped through the body, it is pumped through the kidneys where it is cleansed of impurities and excess liquid. With less blood flowing through the system, less is cleansed, and less excess fluid is removed. The excess fluid that is not removed causes your ankles to swell and worse, your lungs to fill with liquid to the point that it becomes almost impossible to breath. You are in severe “congestion.”

Treating CHF

Fortunately, through the use of medications such as captopril and carvedilol (ace inhibitors and beta blockers) it is possible to rehabilitate the remaining healthy heart muscle so that it pumps harder thus pushing more blood through the system. Another drug spironolactone, a weak diuretic, or furesomide, a stronger diuretic, can be used to force increased filtration through the kidneys thus helping to keep excess fluid levels in check and thus, keep “congestion” in check. These drugs, while they make life with CHF much more bearable, are not without consequence. They can cause liver and kidney problems if not properly balanced. For that reason it is a good idea to get a blood test every couple of months just to monitor certain specific kidney and liver functions for the maintenance of good health.

Need For A Pacemaker

Aside from the daily regiment of drugs which must be taken like clockwork for the rest of your life, certain other life changes arise from suffering Congestive Heart Failure. For one, because of the drugs you will probably need to have a pacemaker installed as a precaution. The coreg or carvedilol which is used to cause the heart muscle to contract more forcefully (a good thing) has a negative side effect: it causes the heart to beat more slowly. It is possible that the heart will slow to the point that you pass out. A pacemaker prevents that.

Restrict Liquids and Salt

The other two big life changers as a result of CHF are restricting your liquid intake to no more than 2 liters of total liquid in a single day and that may be too much, and, radically changing your diet. Start with reducing your salt intake. Salt helps the body retain fluids, exactly what you do not want to do. So, gone are most prepared foods, sauces and soups. You probably don’t realize just how bland food can be without salt. Did you ever try eating pop-corn or a potato without salt? You won’t have much use for kethup either as you will soon see.

Reduce Cholesterol

Next, reduce cholesterol containing foods – those would be your meats and cheeses. Say good bye to cheeseburgers and fries except for the occasional splurge (once every six months). Replace you dinners of steaks and roasts with chicken and fish, vegetables, fruits, nuts (unsalted) and salads.

It may be life altering to have a heart attack so severe that it leads to CHF but the fact that I am alive to write about it is a testament to the miracles modern medicine.

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