Congestive heart failure (CHF) is when the heart fails to adequately pump the oxygen rich blood around the body to meet its needs. There are several things that can cause congestive heart failure such as diseases that weaken the heart muscle, stiffen the heart muscle or diseases that increase oxygen demand by the body that the heart can’t deliver. This includes things like coronary artery disease, hypertension, alcohol abuse for a period of years and disorders of the heart valves. Less common causes are heart arrhythmias, heart defects present since birth and untreated and thyroid disorders.

This condition impairs the pumping capacity of the heart. Symptoms include fatigue, edema (swelling) of the legs and ankles, shortness of breath (from fluid buildup in the lungs), and increased urination especially at night. The fact that your heart is failing does not mean it just stops working; it still works just not as well as it should.

While many times a diagnosis of congestive heart failure is given clinically (just by a doctor looking at certain signs and symptoms a patient has), many times a doctor will want to do further testing to make a diagnosis. This can include tests such as EKG, chest x-rays, stress test, tilt table test, echocardiogram, cardiac catheterizations, and CT’s or MRI’s of the heart.

Your doctor may also prescribe cardiac rehab, which can help you learn to improve ways to take care of your activities of daily living, reduce your risk factors, and most importantly improve your quality of life, outlook and emotional stability.

Doctors have numerous ways of treating congestive heart failure but they usually include some combination of rest, proper diet (including low salt), modified daily activities and drugs (ACE inhibitors, beta-blockers, digitalis, diuretics, and vasodilators). Each of these drugs cause different things to happened in your body to help your congestive heart failure. Vasodilators and ACE inhibitors expand your blood vessels, which lets blood flow more easily and makes the hearts workload less. Beta-blockers help the hearts left ventricle pump as does digitalis. Diuretics help the body eliminate the excess fluid in the body.

While most people with mild to moderate congestive heart failure can be treated with medication if the heart becomes so damaged and enlarged that it cannot be repaired and a transplant is needed.

Congestive heart failure affects about 5 million Americans today. It is one of the most common reasons senior citizens end up in the hospital. The number of deaths from heart disease, and heart failure has

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