Heart failure: identify early signs, risk prevention

Heart failure is one of the most common cardiovascular diseases, with a high incidence of disease. Chronic heart failure is difficult to cure, threatening the patient's life because of many dangerous acute complications. However, the risk of heart failure can still be prevented if the early signs of the disease are recognized and the right treatment and care are taken.

1. What is heart failure?

Heart failure is a weakened heart condition, unable to efficiently pump blood to the body, causing blood to travel through the body and through the heart more slowly than normal people. Heart failure is a clinical syndrome, caused by an abnormality in the heart's structure or function that can be treated but not completely cured.

Heart failure can cause many complications if it is not treated early

4 levels of heart failure (according to the American Heart Association):

 

2. Heart failure symptoms

Some of the earliest manifestations of heart failure:

• Difficulty breathing during exercise, exertion such as walking, climbing stairs, carrying heavy objects or even resting, under physical or mental stress.

• Paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea, accompanied by a dry cough.

• Fatigue, dizziness, exhaustion.

• Painful, severe right side (lower right rib).

• Swelling of the feet, lower legs, abdomen.

• Abnormally fast heart rate.

• Recovery from exertion is very slow.

 

Difficulty breathing even at rest is one of the signs of heart failure

3. Causes of heart failure

• Coronary artery disease.

• Heart attack causes death of some areas of the heart, causing scarring, and reducing the ability of the heart to contract.

• Cardiomyopathy caused by excessive alcohol abuse.

• Chronic hypertension, increased pressure on the heart and overworked heart for long periods of time.

• Congenital heart disease.

• Heart valve disease causes open or narrowed heart valves.

• Chronic diseases: thyroid disease, kidney failure, diabetes.

• Prolonged heart rhythm disturbances.

• Using medicine to treat cancer or some other special medicine.

• Myocarditis.

4. Is heart failure dangerous?

Whether it is heart failure grade 1, 2, 3 or end-stage heart failure, patients have to face with undesirable complications. The degree of danger depends on the cause of heart failure, the diseases associated with the treatment. The higher the degree of heart failure, the greater the risk.

Heart failure not only makes patients hospitalized because of symptoms such as shortness of breath, edema, fatigue, but also life-threatening by heart failure complications:

- Acute pulmonary edema, pleural effusion: Heart failure causes a large amount of fluid in the lungs to cause dry cough, shortness of breath, acute pulmonary edema.

- Sudden death due to arrhythmia: too fast heart rate, ventricular fibrillation, ventricular tachycardia causing sudden high death.

- Stroke and myocardial infarction: Blood clots cause blockage of coronary arteries, cerebral artery.

- The risk of heart valve failure: The heart works hard for a long time, which can cause the ligaments around the heart to relax, rupture, and damage the heart valves.

- The body is anemic: Kidney function is impaired, the body does not produce enough red blood cell hormone causing anemia.

- Damage to the liver and kidneys: Heart failure causes the kidneys not to have enough blood supply, so the functions of filtering, eliminating toxins, salts and water from the body are impaired. In addition, the heart reduces the ability to transport blood, causing the liver to increase in size to store blood, which can easily lead to cirrhosis and liver failure for a long time.

- Heart arrhythmia: abnormally slow tachycardia causing atrial fibrillation, ventricular fibrillation, ventricular tachycardia ...

5. Can heart failure be cured?

Heart failure can be well controlled and completely cured in some cases if diagnosed and treated early.

 

 

Heart failure can be well controlled with proper treatment 

- Diagnose heart failure

• Family history, physical examination, exchange of current heart failure symptoms.

• Subclinical methods such as ECG electrocardiogram, chest X-ray, echocardiography through the abdominal wall, magnetic resonance effects, coronary artery scan through the heart help diagnose the cause, prognosis and monitoring treatment heart failure.

- Treatment of heart failure

The goals of heart failure treatment are to slow disease progression, reduce mortality, hospitalization and increase the patient's quality of life.

Symptomatic treatment of heart failure:

• Use heart medications, diuretics, vasodilators ... as directed by your doctor.

Treat the cause of heart failure:

Good treatment of the diseases, the causes of heart failure. In which, the cause of purple failure is mainly related to cardiovascular diseases.

Open heart valve will perform heart valve dilatation (due to narrow) or heart valve replacement surgery.

• Coronary artery disease requires dilatation + stent.

• Congenital heart disease requires surgery, skin intervention ...

• Hypertension must control blood pressure.

When the disease is at risk of complications, it should be done in parallel between treating the cause and treating heart failure.

6. Take care of patients with heart failure to avoid risks

- Understand the symptoms of the disease

Recognizing the symptoms of illness and seeing it early is important in heart failure treatment. By early detection, the ability to cure the disease and leave less complications is higher.

- Follow-up with your doctor as soon as the condition does not decrease after taking medicine, rest

Some signs of worsening heart failure need immediate medical attention:

• The feeling of shortness of breath increases at night.

• The heart rate dropped rapidly.

• Impaired kidney function.

• The body is more swollen.

- Eat and drink enough nutrition, healthy

Diet for people with heart failure needs to add plenty of green vegetables and fresh fruits. This food group contains fiber, vitamins and antioxidants, very good for the heart. In addition, patients should also eat some foods rich in potassium such as broccoli, salmon, celery, bananas, oranges, watermelon.

 

 

People with heart failure should add plenty of vegetables and fruits in their daily diet

Milk rich in vitamin D, calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus such as soy milk, rice milk, fruit yogurt ... are very good for heart failure patients, especially those suffering from health loss due to poor appetite. poor digestion. Besides, it is also necessary to minimize salt and foods rich in sodium, fat, protein, canned foods, processed or fermented foods such as pickles, cabbage, beans.

The amount of water loaded into the body every day should be as directed by the doctor (based on the degree of heart failure and the patient's needs). Do not administer infusion without the prescription of a doctor. Patients with edema hands and feet much must limit the addition of water to the body as well as have a completely bland diet to avoid accumulating water.

Particularly, patients using anticoagulants to treat heart failure should not eat dark green vegetables such as spinach, green beans, radish, parsley, lettuce ... to avoid affecting the effects of the drug. .

- Quit smoking and alcohol-containing foods such as alcohol and beer

Tobacco, alcohol and other drugs can make the illness worse. Therefore, quitting smoking and alcohol is essential for heart failure patients to treat as well as prevent relapse.

- Regularly exercise

Regular exercise not only improves health but also helps patients control weight, stabilize blood pressure, heart rate as well as blood sugar. However, attention should be paid to choosing moderate, gentle and gradually increasing intensity. Absolutely avoid vigorous physical activities such as lifting weights, jogging or exercises that require constant tension and muscle stretching.

- Adhere to doctor's treatment

People with heart failure should follow all treatment of their doctor, whether they are healthy or have no symptoms, they should not arbitrarily stop, change dosage or take any other medicines. 

Regular visits and adherence to the doctor's indications are effective preventive measures 

- Periodic health examination

Periodic health check every 6 months or once a year helps to detect the earliest signs of the disease as well as the diseases that can lead to heart failure.

When suffering from diseases at risk of heart failure, it is necessary to actively treat and monitor closely to avoid the disease progressing, causing the heart to work overload and under a lot of pressure. Along with that, patients and healthy people also need to take measures to prevent cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, stroke ... to understand the disease status as well as prevent heart failure most effectively. .

The Cardiology Specialist of CarePlus Clinic System has a team of qualified, dedicated and experienced doctors who are deeply trained in areas such as cardiovascular imaging, fetal heart disease, screening. coronary artery disease (other name: myocardial anemia) and early diagnosis of arrhythmia ...

Cardiovascular screening packages at CarePlus:

> Arrhythmia screening package.

> Standard cardiac screening package.

> Intensive cardiovascular screening package.

> Holter ECG heart screening package 24h (1 day).

> Holter ECG heart screening package 72 hours (3 days).

> Holter ECG 7-day cardiac screening package.