Congestive Heart Failure And Death
Congestive heart failure, also referred to as CHF, is a cardiac condition wherein the heart is not able to pump the blood to the various organs effectively. This cardiac condition can result due to elevated blood pressure, earlier heart attack, coronary artery disease, or damaged or disease valves of the heart. |
CHF has characteristic symptoms, like edema of the ankles and legs, shortness of breath and swelling of the abdomen. As the heart is unable to pump the blood properly, the blood pools in certain parts of the body resulting in the edema. It has been seen that the edema usually develops in the legs, but other parts can also experience it. As the lungs get filled with fluid, it causes a problem in breathing and hence, the person suffers from shortness of breath. This tends to get worse when the person lies down.
Usually the prognosis of CHF is not good as the person succumbs to it without a heart transplant. However, the most common way to treat this condition is via medication or performing a surgery in case the valves are causing it.
When it comes to congestive heart failure and death, it has been seen that some people with proper medical help can survive for years to come. However, in others the condition worsens with time and though the person gets medical treatment, he or she will ultimately succumb to the disease.
Initially, a person will not have any symptoms of CHF other than feeling more tired than they should while doing a physical activity. This is usually not taken seriously by the people and they do not go to a doctor to get a diagnosis.
However, with time, the condition of the person worsens and now he or she will suffer from extreme tiredness while doing a physical activity. In addition, when the person does some limited exercise, he or she will notice palpitations of the heart. When the person lies down and rests, these symptoms may reduce or disappear altogether.
In the next stage of the disease, the person may not feel too bad when resting but will have a problem performing the day-to-day tasks. He or she will suffer from shortness of breath and extreme tiredness and as a result they will be able to do just limited physical activities.
In the last stage of the disease, the person is unable to do any physical activity as it will strain the heart and result in severe tiredness. Even when the person rests, the symptoms will not disappear and he or she will face problems in breathing. Soon, the body functions shut down one by one as the heart is no longer able to supply nutrients and oxygen and then the person dies.
It has been seen that where congestive heart failure and death is considered, men are more at risk compared to women, who tend to live eight years to twelve years more than men. Usually, if a person is diagnosed with CHF, the prognosis is not very good as 1 in 5 patients succumb to the disease within one year of being diagnosed.
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CHF, or congestive heart failure, is a medical condition wherein the heart is unable to pump oxygen-rich blood to the various parts of the body due to a problem with the valves of the heart, weakening of the muscle of the heart, stiffening of the muscle of the heart or diseases that cause more demand for oxygen that even the heart cannot keep up with.