Most people don't even notice the early signs of heart failure (if there are any signs at all). Plus, most symptoms of heart failure, especially when the condition becomes chronic, can be vague or feel like other health conditions—so some people can have heart failure and not even know it.
The diagnosis of heart failure is made largely on a person's symptoms and a physical exam. However, there are many tests that can help give more information about the condition. If you cough a lot, often feel weak, have lost your appetite, and need to urinate a lot at night, you might have symptoms of heart failure.
But if you don't have the telltale sign of sudden chest pain that everyone is taught to recognize, it can be confusing. This is called a silent heart attack. It means you don't even know you're having one. But it's still dangerous — and even life-threatening.
A chest X-ray can be useful to identify evidence of heart failure or other lung pathology; however, a normal result does not rule out a diagnosis of heart failure. An electrocardiogram (ECG) is often abnormal in patients with heart failure, although up to 10% of patients may have a normal ECG.
Typical signs of heart failure include: Breathlessness or Shortness of Breath (Dyspnea) When the heart begins to fail, blood backs up in the veins attempting to carry oxygenated blood from the lungs to the heart. As fluid pools in the lungs, it interferes with normal breathing.
Primary care doctors miss about one-third of heart failure diagnoses, which patients may discover after visiting the hospital for a medical emergency, according to a study in Circulation: Heart Failure .
If you have heart failure, call your doctor if you notice any of these signs: Shortness of breath not related to exercise. Sudden weight gain (2""3 pounds in one day or 5+ pounds in one week) Extra swelling in the feet or ankles.
Symptoms can develop quickly (acute heart failure) or gradually over weeks or months (chronic heart failure).
The earliest symptoms of heart failure are often very subtle, but it's dangerous to ignore them. It's an unfortunate truth that your body slows down in your sixth and seventh decades. Climbing a flight of stairs that you once took two at a time can now feel as daunting as scaling Mount Everest.
Diagnosis: atrial fibrillation, or A-fib, the most commonly occurring heart-rhythm abnormality. In A-fib, the atria, the two upper chambers of the heart, beat rapidly and chaotically out of sync with the ventricles, the heart's lower pumping chambers that are responsible for circulating blood throughout the body.
Most people don't even notice the early signs of heart failure (if there are any signs at all). Plus, most symptoms of heart failure, especially when the condition becomes chronic, can be vague or feel like other health conditions—so some people can have heart failure and not even know it.
Blood pressure is known to be an independent predictor of outcome in HF, although systolic blood pressure has generally been the focus.
... a tired feeling all the time and difficulty with everyday activities, such as shopping, climbing stairs, carrying groceries or walking. You may also feel sleepy after eating, feel weak in the legs when walking and get short of breath while being active.
Daily weight.
Many people are first alerted to worsening heart failure when they notice a weight gain of more than two or three pounds in a 24-hour period or more than five pounds in a week. This weight gain may be due to retaining fluids since the heart is not functioning properly.
New, unexplained, and severe chest pain that comes with shortness of breath, sweating, nausea, or weakness. Fast heart rate (more than 120-150 beats per minute, or a rate noted by your doctor), especially if you are short of breath.
Most commonly, a patient may experience shortness of breath, fatigue, problems with the heart's rhythm called arrhythmias, and edema—or fluid buildup—in the legs. Symptoms may be mild or severe and may not always be noticeable.
Chronic kidney disease can look like heart failure. Both diseases cause fluids to backup, leading to swelling, or edema, in your lower extremities, meaning in your legs and feet. Fluid can build up in the lungs, as well, in both diseases, leading to (once again) shortness of breath.
In a 2021 medical study, researchers discovered that “misdiagnosis of heart failure ranges from 16% to 68% depending on the setting.” Heart disease is commonly misdiagnosed or underdiagnosed by physicians due to the wide variety of comorbidities that share similar symptoms to heart disease.
The Basics: Heart Failure
Physical exam for heart failure: Your doctor will look for signs of heart failure as well as other illnesses that may have weakened your heart. They will: Listen to your heart. Take your heart rate.
If you wake up feeling not refreshed, you have daytime sleepiness or if you need to curtail your daytime activity because of lack of energy, these could be signs your heart failure isn't being managed as well as it could be, Dr. Freeman says.
The hallmark of heart failure is dyspnea. The classic combination of raised jugular venous pressure (JVP), peripheral edema, palpable liver, basal crepitations, tachycardia, and a third heart sound is well known.
Aging can weaken and stiffen your heart. People over 65 are more likely to have heart failure.