Heart Failure – A silent killer
What does the term Heart Failure mean?
The word “heart failure” doesn’t necessarily mean that one’s heart has stopped functioning or is about to crumble. However heart failure is a critical condition that requires urgent medical intervention.
How critical is Heart Failure?
Heart Failure is a situation in which the blood supply to the heart muscle suddenly goes haywire, starving it of oxygen and making the muscle to perish. In some instances, the heart can’t pump in with the required level of blood. In other instances, the heart is not in a state to pump blood to the other parts of the body with enough vigor.
How to distinguish between Heart Attack and Heart Failure?
Both heart attack and heart failure are grave medical conditions that can trigger death. To be more specific, heart attack is a scenario in which there is a blockage of blood flow to the heart. Resultantly, the patient dies in quick time. Whereas heart failure is attributed to a weakened heart and enlargement of muscles. In such a condition, the heart loses its capacity to supply blood to the other parts of the body like the lungs, feet and the feet.
Causes leading to heart failure
Heart failure builds up over a period of time as the heart’s pumping action grows frail. Specifically, the condition can impact the right side of the heart, or it can impair both sides of the heart. In a majority of cases, both sides of the heart develop problems.
Left-side heart failure crops up, if the heart is not in a position to pump the needed oxygen-rich blood to the other parts of the body, whereas Right-side heart failure arises if the heart loses its capacity to pump sufficient blood to the lungs to pick up oxygen.
Right-side heart failure leads to accumulation of fluid in the feet, legs, abdomen, and ankles, veins in the neck and liver. Both-side heart failure could result in fatigue and shortness of breath.
Who are impacted by Heart Attack?
The gravity of a heart attack depends on how big a blood vessel got obstructed.
Heart failure is more prevalent in:
- People who are 60 or older. Aging can incapacitate the heart muscle. Older people also may have had other diseases for many long years that could turn into heart failure.
- Work stress will have serious repercussions leading to heart attack
- Children who suffer from congenital heart defects are susceptible to heart problems. Also, congenital heart defects can push the heart work harder. This, in effect, curtails the functionality of heart muscle, leading to heart failure.
- People who faced heart stroke in the past.
Do heart ailments trouble men and women alike?
Women are prone to same risk factors as men and require paying equal attention to their heart health. However, more cardiovascular deaths take place in women than in men.
The incidence of heart ailments in women enhances with age, though women lag about 10 years behind men in onset as they are guarded by hormones.
General warning signs:
- Discomfort pressure, heaviness, pain or squeezing in the middle of the chest in excess of a few minutes.
- Chest ache plus light-headedness, sweating, fainting, shortness of breath or nausea.
Upon discussing the symptom history of patients, the doctor carries out a series of tests to determine the heart condition:
- Urine and blood tests
- Chest X-Ray
- ECG
- Echocardiogram
- Stress test
- Cardiac MRI
- Angiogram
Presently, there is no medicine to prevent heart failure. However, early diagnosis and treatment alone can help people who suffer from heart diseases lead longer, more active lives.
The objective of treatment is to lessen symptoms. There exist a variety of treatment options lie such as:
- Surgical procedures consisting of
- Stenting
- Heart transplantation
- Coronary artery bypass surgery
- Valve replacement
- Coronary Angioplasty
Altering life style habits like quitting smoking, avoiding alcohol, maintaining ideal weight, controlling caffeine, taking a healthy diet and managing stress; all these will help in keeping the heart failure at bay.