More On Congestive Heart Failure

I heard a Doctor explain Congestive Heart Failure to a patient like this: "It is not that the heart fails to pump, it is just that it has been working so hard to pump that it has become thick and unable to deal with the volume of fluid coming to it..."

In CHF the blood moves through the body at a rate that is slower than what the body function needs. So here is all this fluid moving through the body like a line at an escalator. People are waiting to go somewhere, but they just can't get on the escalator just yet...so a line forms. Just like the line forming, the blood backs up into the system and where does it back up to? The lungs. This is why people who have CHF have a difficult time breathing. They have so much fluid backing up into their lungs, that the air can't get through to ventilate the person. Next thing you know, you are rushing that person to the hospital because they cannt breathe.

Causes of CHF include the following:

1. Coronary Artery Disease--Disease of the vessels that provide blood and oxygen to the heart. When they become diseased and clogged, the heart does not get enough oxygen and cannot pump as effectively as it should.

2. Heart Attack -- If a person has a heart attack, part of the heart muscle can become damaged and again, it cannot pump like it should.

3. Hypertension - High Blood Pressure - One of the reasons that it is dangerous to have high blood pressure is that it can damage the veins and the arteries

4. Heart Defect - - This is usually something that a person is born with.

I realize that this is not a complete list, but at least it can give you an idea that any sort of disease that taxes the hearts function can eventually cause CHF.

SYMPTOMS & TREATMENTS of Congestive Heart Failure

1. Irregular Heart Beats. Sometimes a person will say, my heart feels like it is racing or my heart feels like it is jumping in my chest. This rhythm will cause fluid to back up. When you go to the hospital, they will put you on a monitor and do an EKG. This will tell them what your heart is doing. Sometimes they will feel it necessary to change your hearts rhythm. They can give you a medicine that will suddenly stop your heart and then let it beat again in a normal rhythm. Something else they can do is called a cardioversion. They will shock your heart into a lower and more stable heart rhythm.

2. You may feel tired or lightheaded or even experience some weakness.

3. Difficulty breathing. The fluid backs up into the lungs. You come into the hospital, they will give you medication to help you potty out the extra fluid. In some cases they will call for Respiratory Therapy to put a device on you that pushes positive pressure into the lungs.
BiPap causes the positive pressure in the lungs to help push the fluid back into the vascular system where it belongs...and then with the lasix (potty medication) your body will get rid of the extra fluid. Some people require to be put on life support when they also have other conditions such as COPD.

Your Doctor will want to know the extensiveness of your heart failure. In order to do this, he/she will order some tests to be done.


An Echo-cardiogram is an ultrasound of the heart. It will tell the doctor what your ejection fraction (EF) is. That is how well your heart is pumping. This comes in a percentage. For example your EF = 45%.


Your doctor may order some blood tests, and EKG to determine how serious your heart failure might be.

All in all, CHF can be controlled by you and your doctor. Do not try to fix this yourself. Find yourself a fabulous cardiologist who is willing to take the time to explain everything to you so that you can understand it.

I wish you luck and good breathing.