Swelling (also called edema): This happens when there's too much fluid in your tissues. Your legs and ankles are the most likely places to swell. But other areas of your body, like your arms or belly, can also swell. Weight gain: This is caused by extra fluid that doesn't get flushed from your body the way it should.
People with heart failure have a tendency to retain fluid. This appears as swollen ankles and legs because of excess fluid building up. You may notice that your shoes don't fit and socks appear tight or leave a prominent indent above the ankle.
Warning signs and symptoms of heart failure include shortness of breath, chronic coughing or wheezing, swelling, fatigue, loss of appetite, and others. Heart failure means the heart has failed to pump the way it should in order to circulate oxygen-rich blood throughout the body.
You may have trouble breathing, an irregular heartbeat, swollen legs, neck veins that stick out, and sounds from fluid built up in your lungs. Your doctor will check for these and other signs of heart failure. A test called an echocardiogram is often the best test to diagnose your heart failure.
“Getting diagnosed with heart failure usually starts when you notice symptoms such as shortness of breath, fatigue, rapid or irregular heartbeat or swelling in the legs, ankles, feet or abdomen,” says Dr. Piña.
When the right side of the heart (right ventricle) starts to fail, fluid begins to collect in the feet and lower legs. Puffy leg swelling (edema) is a sign of right heart failure, especially if the edema is pitting edema. With pitting edema, a finger pressed on the swollen leg leaves an imprint.
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.
Heart failure can involve the heart's left side, right side or both sides. However, it usually affects the left side first.
The strongest independent associations for incident HF were coronary artery disease (HR=2.94; 95% CI 1.36 to 6.33), diabetes mellitus (HR=2.00; 95% CI 1.68 to 2.38), age (HR (per 10 years)=1.80; 95% CI 1.13 to 2.87) followed by hypertension (HR=1.61; 95% CI 1.33 to 1.96), smoking (HR=1.60; 95% CI 1.45 to 1.77), male ...
How is congestive heart failure diagnosed? Diagnosis of congestive heart failure is achieved through a comprehensive assessment of the heart muscle, including evaluation of its pumping action and thickness of its walls. This testing also helps to determine the underlying cause of heart failure.
Heart failure is a serious long-term condition that will usually continue to get slowly worse over time. It can severely limit the activities you're able to do and is often eventually fatal. But it's very difficult to tell how the condition will progress on an individual basis. It's very unpredictable.
However, life expectancy for a person with CHF has substantially improved over time. A person's age at diagnosis may impact prognosis. The authors report that the 5-year survival rate for people under 65 years of age was around 79%, while the rate was about 50% for those 75 and over.
People with heart failure may feel constantly tired and have difficulty performing daily activities such as walking, climbing stairs or carrying groceries. Exercise intolerance and fatigue are often the most common symptoms of heart failure.
Patients with congestive heart failure have a high incidence of sudden cardiac death that is attributed to ventricular arrhythmias.
People with congestive heart failure (CHF) often have a hard time falling asleep or staying asleep. This is due to the shortness of breath that is caused by CHF. This shortness of breath is often made worse when you lie down. The blood in your legs flows back into the heart.
Swelling (edema) in your lower legs is another sign of a heart problem. When your heart doesn't work as well, blood flow slows and backs up in the veins in your legs. This causes fluid to build up in your tissues. You may also have swelling in your stomach or notice some weight gain.
There are many things that cause abdominal swelling. One of them is fluid retention in heart failure, and usually, this is caused by fluid retention due to right-sided heart failure.
It can make you feel run down, wheezy, and swollen with fluids. It's a lifelong condition, but it can be treated and managed with the help of your doctor. About 3 million women in the U.S. have it. Some 455,000 more join the ranks each year, and that number is on the rise.
Left-sided heart failure: The left ventricle of the heart no longer pumps enough blood around the body. As a result, blood builds up in the pulmonary veins (the blood vessels that carry blood away from the lungs). This causes shortness of breath, trouble breathing or coughing – especially during physical activity.