6 Ways to Prevent Heart Failure Worsening

Posted on by Jesse Santiano, M.D.

More patients with heart failure present to the emergency room during or after the holidays. This article aims to educate about the symptoms of heart failure and what to do to prevent it.

Common Causes of Heart Failure Worsening

  1. Excessive salt intake
  2. Too much water intake
  3. Missed doses of medications or poor compliance
  4. Lung infections
  5. Anginal or chest pain
  6. Uncontrolled hypertension

Heart Failure Symptoms

  1. Gets easily fatigued with walking and at rest.
  2. Increase in  shortness of breath
  3. Difficulty laying flat mainly if associated with cough or shortness of breath. Usually, extra pillows are needed to make the head go higher.
  4. Increase in the number of times of urinating at night
  5. Unexplained weight gain of more than 2 pounds in a day.
  6. Edema of the ankles. Shoes getting tight.
  7. Chest pain
  8. Palpitations or heart racing even at rest.
  9. Any combination of the above.
Heartfailure (1)
Symptoms of Heart Failure

How to Prevent the Worsening of Heart Failure

  1. Take your prescribed medicines as ordered
  2. Get your pneumonia vaccine and yearly flu shots.
  3. Check your weight every day. Call the doctor if the unexplained weight gain is more than 2 pounds in 1 day
  4. Watch out for the salt in the food. Canned and restaurant food are high in salt.
  5. Limit alcohol. 1 drink for females and a maximum of 2 for males.
  6. If any of the heart failure symptoms are observed, call your doctor or go to the emergency room. Early treatment may prevent hospitalization or worse.

Don’t Get Sick or Sicker!

References:

  1. Tsuyuki RT1, McKelvie RS, Arnold JM, Avezum A Jr, Barretto AC, Carvalho AC, Isaac DL, Kitching AD, Piegas LS, Teo KK, Yusuf S. Acute precipitants of congestive heart failure exacerbations.  Arch Intern Med. 2001 Oct 22;161(19):2337-42.
  2. Chin  MHGoldman  L Factors contributing to the hospitalization of patients with congestive heart failure.  Am J Public Health. 1997;87643- 648
  3. Alejandro Diaz, Cleto Ciocchini, Mariano Esperatti, Alberto Becerra, Sabrina Mainardi, Alejandro Farah. Precipitating factors leading to decompensation of chronic heart failure in the elderly patient in South-American community hospital
    J Geriatr Cardiol. 2011 Mar; 8(1): 12–14. doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1263.2011.00012
  4. 2013 ACCF/AHA Guideline for the Management of Heart Failure

Image Credit:

  • Heart Failure By National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, originally uploaded by Wouterstomp at en.wikipedia. – http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/Hf/HF_SignsAndSymptoms.html; transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by Stevenfruitsmaak using CommonsHelper., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4848343

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