What is Congestive Heart Failure

[FatSlob]

I just learned that Grandma has it. Can anybody give me info about what this means? They say that it is causing fluid in the lungs.

[nini]

1. here's some info.. mild cases are treatable to a decent degree

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4585

Congestive Heart Failure

Congestive heart failure (CHF), or heart failure, is a condition in which the heart can't pump enough blood to the body's other organs. This can result from
narrowed arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle -- coronary artery disease.
past heart attack, or myocardial infarction, with scar tissue that interferes with the heart muscle's normal work.
high blood pressure.
heart valve disease due to past rheumatic fever or other causes.
primary disease of the heart muscle itself, called cardiomyopathy.
heart defects present at birth -- congenital heart defects.
infection of the heart valves and/or heart muscle itself -- endocarditis and/or myocarditis.

[southerngirlwriter]

2. in laywoman's terms....

It causes the heart to stop pumping all the fluid away that it needs to. The fluid builds up. This can cause massive amounts of weight gain very fast (as in, 40 or 50 pounds in a couple of days).

They will probably give her a drug called Lasix. If she is not 100% capable of remembering to take her medication at the right time and in the right dosage, it is imperative that someone monitor it. Too much or not enough can cause massive consequences very fast.

My Grandma died of it. I was away at school and no one was watching her meds. :cry:

[put out]

13. If she takes Lasix, please ask if she is also going to take

a potassium supplement, like K-Dur. I think I didn't spell that right, but ask. Sometimes the prescribing physician forgets.

If I remember correctly, they go together. She doesn't need another problem. Lasix leaches potassium; it just goes with the increased filtration from the kidneys. Increased filtration is good, just be on alert for the loss of potassium. It is not good for heart function, nor the function of other muscles.

Feel free to correct me; I welcome that.

[southerngirlwriter]

14. You are correct. I should have mentioned that.

Thanks. :hi:

[tishaLA]

15. Potassium is not necessary

at least all the time. I have CHF and, although I no longer have to take Lasix, when I did, my potassium levels were never abnormal. Potassium abnormalities are individual.

[REP]

17. Potassium is not Always Necessary

I take an amazing load of Lasix, and don't take K with it - kidney patients usually don't have to.

[put out]

18. O.K. Thanks for the info.

This gives me an excuse to do some research today.

[ohiosmith]

3. See below.

congestive heart failure
NOUN: A condition marked by weakness, edema, and shortness of breath that is caused by the inability of the heart to maintain adequate blood circulation in the peripheral tissues and the lungs.

[Rick Myers]

4. Here's some info from WebMD

http://my.webmd.com/hw/heart_disease/hw44415-healthtools.asp?lastselectedguid={5FE84E90-BC77-4056-A91C-9531713CA348}

[Mick Knox]

5. I'm sure a nurse or someone else will eventually answer...

But it is when the Heart is weakened and no longer pumping as hard - one common result is often fluids build up in the lungs. It can often be treated with meds for quite some time.

I hope for the best for you and your family.

[Lisa0825]

6. My mom had it as a result of emphysema.

My mom lived for many years with CHF. She died of heart failure, but her emphysema was already "end stage" by the time she was diagnosed with CHF, so keeping her alive several years was quite a feat. with proper treatment, you can have your grandma around a long time.

[FatSlob]

7. Thank you to all who have answered so far.

This is, of course, a shock to my family.

[bubblesby2002]

8. My mother is dying from congestive heart failure.

She had a stroke a couple of years ago and is not mobile. Recently she has been declining and it is due to fluid in her lungs. They gave her lasix in the care home and she did rally for a while - but she has relapsed. :cry:

I wish you all the best and send good vibes.

[billyf65]

9. best of luck

Lots of scary posts -- and though my grandmother had it, it was cancer complications that ultimately took her (and advanced age -- she was 82).

But here's something to look out for: shortness of breath and fluid buildup in extremities (ankles in particular).

My grandmother was a stubborn woman. She often refused to go to the hospital at the onset of fluid buildup in her ankles --and more than once found herself in the hospital on a respirator shortly thereafter.

If the ankels look swollen, and a squeeze leaves finger indentations -- get her to the hospital soon.

[Dogmudgeon]

10. My father died with it.

My grandmother just spent 10 days in the hospital with it.

I have the very beginning stages of it -- after a winter of being unable to exercise, which included weight gain.

CHF is amazingly common. The fact that it's called "Congestive Heart Failure" is probably why it's not diagnosed more frequently. Often, the term "Pulmonary Edema" will be used.

The descriptions and links I've seen posted here are pretty accurate. I'd simply like to add that CHF is very common in people with impaired sugar metabolism (diabetes, hypoglycemia, or insulin insensitivity), high blood pressure, obesity, and lack of exercise.

Unfortunately, it means that within a few years, CHF is going to be part of the standard Personal Responsibility™ lecture given to Bad Fatties (i.e., all fatties) by the Virtuous Slimbos, along with ritual invocations of Couch Potatoes, "inhaling Twinkies", and the admonition to "get off your fat ass".

Well, my grandmother is 91, weighs 95 pounds, and is still active. My father had been a competetively-classed gymnast. This past winter was the first time in eleven years that I had been unable to exercise for more than a month. So make of it what you will.

My own opinion is that our overall sedentary lifestyles contribute the lion's share to the problem, and a hour a day at Bally's or Gold's isn't going to reverse the cardiac damage, even if you get six-pack abs and that "lean, sexy, sculpted look you deserve". Being stuck in an office chair in a perpetual low-grade anxiety attack for eight hours a day, with another half-to-two hours of white-knuckled driving, followed by several hours of hypnotic de-stressing in front of the TV all stress AND de-condition the heart. Modern life is like being in a space capsule for years and years. No wonder CHF, osteoporisis, and other such deconditioning diseases are becoming common.

--bkl

[davsand]

11. Read up on CoQ10 for this.

I know it is not used here in the US by Docs to treat it, but it IS used in Japan and other nations with some success. My Dad is another cardiac patient, and he refuses to follow up on CoQ10 with his Doc. I guess he's just intimidated by it all or else just stubborn--either way, the info is out there if you look for it.

I'd suggest a google search with CoQ10 and Japan in it and it will most likely come up.

Best of luck to your Granny--my Dad has been dealing with this now for about 10 years.


Laura

[Dogmudgeon]

12. Already done

We've all been taking CoQ10 for years.

My grandmother was persuaded to stop taking it last year by her cardiologist, who also neglected to keep her coumadin level properly titrated, leading to the recent episode of CHF.

CoQ10 can be made inexpensively from extracting ubiquinone from rice hulls. Not too much money can be made with that kind of treatment. So they gave her Pacerone (amiodarone). Read up on it some time if you want a good scare.

--bkl

[davsand]

20. Pacerone is some awful stuff!

Wow. I have to wonder just WHO thought THAT stuff up--ya know? Talk about "cures" that kill!

Anyhow, as for CoQ10, I started taking it a couple of years ago simply because I know that heart disease is in my family and I figured it might be a good idea once I learned more about it. It seems to me that the impact of nutritional treatments is sadly overlooked and this looked like just one example.

My Dad even had Chelation therapy in an attempt to feel better, and did report he felt better for a bit. However, the fact that he was walking regularly and taking a bunch of vitamins and supplements (like CoQ10!) as part of that therapy seems to elude him. He stopped taking the supplements when the therapy ended then stopped walking shortly after that when he felt worse...

He's a guy who has decided to give up--and there is little anyone can do at this point to change his mind for him. It has been difficult to watch.


Laura

[Dogmudgeon]

21. Eh, guess what?

She had an episode of atrial fibrillation this afternoon. I just got back from the E.R.

I spoke to the supervising physician and one of the nurses about amiodarone. Each of them "seconded" my idea to bring this up as a medication concern with her physician. One of the nurses thought that her recent meds change could have precipitated the episode.

Anyway, it took about two hours on an old-school beta-blocker to bring her heart rate back down and stabilize it. She's in good shape and there was never any real danger, but she'll be staying overnight anyway. The staff knows her well, and she likes them, so it won't be a big ordeal.

I wish I had more to offer in the way of how your father feels. My grandmother frequently talks about dying, although at nearly 91, she is in as good shape as most women at 65 or 70. It's possible he's depressed. You may also want to pursue getting his physician to check his level of testosterone, which is often related to lassitude and depression in men as young as 40. (Proper supplementation won't make him macho and horny in spite of popular misuse of the word "testosterone".)

Good luck with him, though.

--bkl

[tishaLA]

16. I have it

what do you want to know? The standard of care is this:

Coreg is the Beta Blocker of choice, as it has reparative effects on the heart and can raise the EF (ejection fraction), which is how much blood your heart can pump from the left ventricle (LV) with each contraction. For "normal" people, EF is about 65%; when I was diagnosed, mine was 10-15%, but it has climbed to 40%.

She will also need an ACE inhibitor, which is a vaso-dilator. I don't know more about it, unfortunately, because I just take the drug, I'm not an expert in this one.

A diuretic like Lasix (most of have the generic, furosemide), probably about 40 mg./day. This may go up or down depending upon how she responds.

Aspirin. And now doctors are prescribing statins, but I haven't had to start that yet. I have my appointment with my doc tomorrow, though, so that will probably change. The standard of care has actually changed in the last several months as a result of a study in the New England Journal of Medicine.

She must also STRICTLY adhere to a diet of ONLY 2000 mg of sodium a day (both harder and easier than it sounds) and 2 litres of fluid/day (probably). She should also have a half hour of cardiovascular exercise every day; walking is sufficient.

One of the important determinants in her prognosis is how she acquired CHF. If she got it from a viral source, as I did, or post-partum (not likely for a grandmother), she has a very good prognosis. No matter what, CHF patients have a much better prognosis than ever before because of the advancement in drugs. 1/3 of patients get better; 1/3 remain stable; 1/3 get worse. Life expectancy, however, is very good as it is considered a manageable chronic illness like diabetes.

Tips: make sure she sees a CHF specialist! Internists are not good enough for this because it is highly specialized and "regular" cardiologists are OK, but it is preferable that the doc see at least HALF his or her patients with CHF/cardiomyopathy. A good place to look is http://www.chfpatients.com Have your grandmother read the manual--or you read it--and then start looking for info there. It has almost everything you need to know. There is a section for caregivers (with questions and support) and for patients, but the two sections bleed together. The owner of the board has CHF and he, like me, was "supposed" to have a transplant when he was diagnosed; he now has a normal EF, but he lives with some limitations. It is written in lay-speak, so it is accessible to everyone. I post questions there sometimes and I learn a lot.

Let me give a couple other links.

http://www.acc.org/clinical/guidelines/failure/hf_index.htm American College of Cardiology Guidelines for the management of CHF

http://www.heartcenteronline.com/myheartdr/community/showthread.cfm?doWhat=seeDiscussion&discussionTopic_id=84
Heart Center Online message board for CHF patients and loved ones.

http://chfplace.com/
Lots of good info. Follow the links.

But most of all, go to the chfpatients.com site and explore. Learn.

[FatSlob]

19. Thank you so much.

tons of info. She is 91 years old, I think that is how she got it. I appreciate everybody here, and the concern you have all shown. I feel quite a bit better now. Thank you, all.