Heart Failure
Heart failure means the heart is weakened and is unable to pump enough blood to supply the body's needs. The effect on the body when heart fails causes fluid to build up, thus creating congestion and other effects like fatigue.
Heart failure means the heart is:
- Weakened
- Unable to pump enough blood to supply the body's needs.
The effect on the body when heart is failed
- Not enough blood circulates.
- Fluid builds up, creating congestion.
Symptoms of Heart failure (FACES)
- Fatigue
- Limited activities
- Chest congestion
- Edema or ankle swelling
- Shortness of breath
Ejection Fraction
Ejection Fraction refers to the fraction of blood the heart pumps out with each beat.
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Healthy heart = 60% or more.
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Heart failure = 40% or less.
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Ejection fraction less than 20% means your survival is limited.
Signs and Symptoms
In today's hectic lifestyle, a large number of people are suffering from high blood pressure. Most of the time, high blood pressure goes untreated and damages arteries and vital organs throughout the body. This is why it is called the "silent killer". Some of the most common symptoms are:
Causes
In most of the cases, the cause of high blood pressure is not known and is often referred to as primary or essential hypertension. However, some major causes of high blood pressure include:
- Age - The older a person is, the greater the possibility that he or she will develop high blood pressure. This is due to arteriosclerosis, or "hardening of the arteries."
- Family history - The problem of high blood pressure tends to run in families.
- Obesity - Being overweight increases the risk of high blood pressure. Health care professionals recommend that all obese people with high blood pressure lose weight until they are within 15% of their healthy body weight.
- Alcohol consumption - Drinking more than two drinks of alcohol per day increases the chances of high blood pressure.
- Lack of exercise.
- Medications - Certain drugs, such as amphetamines (stimulants), diet pills, and pseudoephedrine tend to raise blood pressure.
- Young patients can have high BP due to kidney disease.
Treatment
The best treatment for high blood pressure is to make healthy changes to your lifestyle. One needs to take a stepwise approach beginning with diet, weight loss, and lifestyle changes along with medications as required.
- Medications – if you occasionally feel that you have elevated high blood pressure, your doctor would suggest few medicines that will bring down the blood pressure to normal.
- Avoid tobacco smoke
- Maintain a healthy weight
- Take a healthy diet
- Limit your salt intake
- Do regular physical activity
