Heart failure: symptoms, first aid

The first manifestations of various heart diseases should be carefully examined to avoid the development of more dangerous symptoms. If you delay in contacting a doctor, the condition of the heart muscle gradually worsens. Its tissues and vessels undergo pathological changes and can no longer perform the functions of pumping a sufficient volume of blood. As a result, the patient is diagnosed with heart failure, which is fraught with serious complications: myocardial infarction, ischemia, arterial hypertension, etc. It is the timely diagnosis of heart problems that will protect you from dangerous consequences. Now you can undergo a consultation and a set of preparatory examinations when registering for a course of enhanced external counterpulsation or shock wave therapy of the heart absolutely free of charge!

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What is heart failure?

The evolution of this disease occurs gradually, problems in the functioning of the heart increase with the age of the patient. In his youth, he does not feel interruptions, because the heart tissues and blood vessels have sufficient tone to supply blood to all parts of the body. Gradually, under the influence of various factors, tissues and blood vessels lose their elasticity, the heart does not fully perform its main function and blood supply deteriorates.

Negative factors include:

passion for bad habits (alcohol, smoking);
sedentary lifestyle;
eating disorders;
hereditary heart diseases;
unfavorable environment.

At the initial stage, changes occur in the structure of tissues - the ventricles of the heart and their muscles increase. Accordingly, the volume of blood in them increases. The heart muscle needs to work harder to push blood into the vascular system.

As a result, the heart is exhausted, and the walls of blood vessels, due to overload, lose their elasticity, narrow, quickly wear out and over time lose their ability to pass a normal volume of blood. At the same time, vascular pressure increases, and the person quickly gets tired. And the greater the degree of wear and tear of the heart and blood vessels, the faster fatigue sets in. With a high degree of cardiovascular insufficiency, the patient feels a loss of strength even when stationary.

Not only changes occur in the tissues of the heart and blood vessels. The body replenishes the lack of blood, primarily in the brain and the heart itself. Therefore, patients experience insufficient flow to the limbs and other organs. Peripheral vascular diseases, chronic renal failure develop, joints suffer from lack of blood circulation, etc.

Methods of treating the disease

The main goal of treating patients is to eliminate the factors that cause heart failure. Among them are rheumatism, ischemia, hypertension, etc. In some cases, surgery is required, this happens with heart defects, aneurysm, and other problems that cause a mechanical barrier to the functioning of the organ.

If the patient has severe or acute cardiovascular failure, the specialist prescribes him to adhere to bed rest. In addition, complete rest is recommended for him. If the condition is not so serious, the load may be moderate and will not affect your well-being.

It is not advisable for the patient to consume more than 600 ml of liquid per day; salt should be either completely excluded from the diet or limited to 1-2 grams. Food should be easily digestible, with plenty of vitamins.

Pharmacotherapy brings good results; it makes it possible to significantly improve the condition of patients and improve their quality of life. Treatment of heart failure involves taking several groups of medications:

Cardiac glycosides. They are needed to improve myocardial contractility. As a result, its pumping function and diuresis increase. The products help to tolerate physical activity normally. Among the drugs are strophanthin, digoxin, etc.
ACE inhibitors, vasodilators. Their effect is a decrease in vascular tone. The drugs cause the blood vessels to dilate. Thus, as the heart contracts, its resistance decreases, therefore, cardiac output becomes greater.
Nitrates. The purpose of the funds is to improve the filling of blood in the ventricles. Their use allows you to increase cardiac output and make the coronary arteries wider. Among them are sustak, nitroglycerin, etc.
Diuretics. Prevents the retention of excess water in the body. This is furosemide, etc.
Beta blockers. Their use leads to a decrease in heartbeats, improvement in its filling with blood, and an increase in cardiac output.
Anticoagulants. Prevents the formation of blood clots in blood vessels. This is, in particular, aspirin.
Means leading to improvement of myocardial metabolism. These are vitamins B, C, riboxin.

If a patient develops pulmonary edema, he should be admitted to a hospital where he will receive emergency treatment. He will need to take diuretics and nitrates. The patient is given drugs that increase cardiac output. In addition, he is prescribed oxygen inhalations.

When water accumulates in the abdominal cavity, it is removed using punctures. If pneumothorax occurs, pleural puncture is necessary. If a patient has a low oxygen content in the tissues, oxygen therapy is recommended. That is, if there is heart failure with symptoms, treatment - tablets, other drugs - should be prescribed by a specialist.

Classification of heart failure

Acute heart failure

Characterized by sudden, dynamic and to some extent unpredictable development. An attack can develop in 3-5 minutes or 3-5 hours. The contractile function of the heart is impaired, so blood circulation suffers, and the load on the heart tissue (either the left or right ventricle) increases sharply.

Various types of acute forms are characterized by:

stagnation of blood in various large veins or pulmonary circulation;
a sharp decrease in heart rate, which causes a deterioration in the blood supply to organs and tissues of the body;
sudden deterioration in the condition of a patient suffering from a chronic form of the disease.

Chronic heart failure

The most common form. It is characterized by a progressive course and an increase in functional heart problems. The disease has several stages.

Initially, the heart muscle compensates for the insufficient volume of blood ejection by increasing the number of contractions. At this time, myocardial hypertrophy gradually occurs, the vessels begin to reflexively narrow, and the patient experiences periodic ailments.

This state lasts until the compensation mechanism exhausts its resources. Organs and tissues experience a greater lack of oxygen supplied by the blood, and metabolic products are excreted worse. Dystrophic phenomena develop in the body.

What awaits patients

Half of all patients diagnosed with heart failure live more than five years. It is difficult to talk about maximum life expectancy; this indicator is determined by many factors. These include the severity of the disease, concomitant background, and the effectiveness of the prescribed treatment. The kind of life the patient leads and much more is of great importance.

If the disease is detected in the initial stage, with the help of therapy the patient’s condition can be completely compensated. At stage 3 of the disease, experts talk about a worse prognosis.

Causes of heart failure

Causes of acute heart failure

The main cause of the disease is damage to heart tissue, leading to a change in its functionality. It is often caused by other diseases that negatively affect the heart and blood vessels:

arrhythmias;
cardiomyopathy;
myocarditis;
myocardial infarction;
increase in chronic symptoms;
diabetes;
cardiac tamponade;
pulmonary artery blockage;
heart defects.
Causes of non-cardiac origin include:
infectious infections;
strokes;
brain injuries.

Acute heart failure in men

In the male part of the population, the occurrence of the disease in an acute form is most often provoked by myocardial infarction, toxic poisoning (including alcohol), stress, and overwork.

Acute heart failure in women

A high risk of the disease occurs in women during pregnancy, when the heart is under heavy stress. And during menopause, hormonal changes occur in the body, affecting the functioning of the heart.

Causes of chronic cardiovascular failure

There are several specific causes of chronic (congestive) heart failure:

cardiac ischemia;
endocrine diseases;
eating disorders;
cardiomyopathy;
arrhythmias, heart block;
pericardial diseases;
arterial hypertension;
congenital and acquired heart defects.

Chronic heart failure in men

Men suffer from this disease mainly due to coronary heart disease, characterized by pathology of the coronary arteries. Negative factors are obesity, alcohol abuse and smoking.

Chronic heart failure in women

In Russia, the risk of developing the disease is higher in women, because their life expectancy is generally longer, and heart failure is a disease of old age. The most common cause of the disease in the female population is arterial hypertension. The greatest risk of developing the disease occurs during menopause.

Preventive measures

For preventive purposes, to prevent the occurrence of such a disease, it is necessary to prevent the development of diseases that lead to it. Among them is ischemia, hypertension, heart defects. In addition, it is necessary to prevent as much as possible the emergence of factors that favor the appearance.

If you have heart failure, the symptoms of which have already appeared, you must first of all try to prevent its progression. To do this, you should not exceed the recommended physical activity, take all medications prescribed by your doctor, and be regularly examined by a cardiologist. The doctors of the Clinical Hospital “RZD-Medicine” in Nizhny Novgorod will help you monitor your health.

Stages of heart failure

In medicine, there are 4 stages (degrees) of heart failure.

First . Mild manifestations of the disease during physical activity (fatigue, shortness of breath, increased heart rate), which most patients usually do not pay attention to. In a calm state, the symptoms disappear.
Second . Quite long-term, increasing changes in the functions of the heart occur. The patient begins to feel interruptions in heart rhythm and shortness of breath already at rest, but their degree still remains moderate. Moreover, symptoms may appear suddenly, for example, when trying to get out of bed.
Third . In the end, interruptions in the functioning of other organs and blood vessels make themselves felt, accompanied by pathological changes in their tissues and the circulatory system.

Detection methods

Since symptoms of cardiopulmonary failure may indicate a number of other diseases, cardiologists, to determine an accurate diagnosis, carry out a number of necessary measures, which include:

Study of patient complaints.
X-ray examination of the lungs, which allows you to determine changes in the pulmonary system and the size of the heart.
If the previous study did not lead to an accurate diagnosis, an additional CT scan of the chest is performed.
An ultrasound is required to determine the extent of heart damage.
To determine the pressure in the lungs and heart, invasive manometry and catheterization are performed.
In advanced cases, it is necessary to conduct an ECG, which will show the degree of changes in the organs.

Functional classes of heart failure

First . The patient is physically active and does not feel obvious signs of the disease.
Second . The patient experiences well at rest, but physical activity causes symptoms of the disease to appear.
Third . The patient is comfortable at rest, but much less physical activity is required for signs of the disease to appear.
Fourth . Already at rest the patient feels discomfort, and with minimal exertion the symptoms increase sharply.

Symptoms of acute heart failure

Symptoms increase quickly and even rapidly. Pathological changes occur in different ventricles of the heart, therefore the following symptoms of heart failure are distinguished.

If the right ventricle is damaged:

veins in the neck swell;
fingers, ears, tip of nose turn blue;
limbs swell;
the liver enlarges, and the skin turns slightly yellow.
For left ventricular failure:
shortness of breath and suffocation develop;
coughing attacks are accompanied by the release of sputum and foam;
the patient tries to sit up in bed with his legs down;
Moist rales are heard in the lungs.

A common symptom is dizziness, loss of balance due to a sharp deterioration in blood supply to the brain. In response to a decrease in the amount of blood in the vessels, tachycardia rapidly develops. The patient may also feel nauseated.

Symptoms of chronic heart failure

One of the most characteristic symptoms of heart failure is shortness of breath . As the disease progresses, its intensity increases.
Due to insufficient oxygen supply to the tissues, oxygen starvation develops, which is expressed in rapid fatigue , chronic fatigue .
Stagnation of fluid in the lungs, associated with deterioration of hemodynamics in the pulmonary circulation, causes a wet cough .
Enlargement of the ventricles leads to the fact that the heart needs to contract more often in order to push out the required amount of blood - the heart rate increases .

The chronic form is characterized by an increase in the manifestations of the disease. If at an early stage patients may not pay attention to them, then later the severity of symptoms increases and fatigue sets in faster. Even at rest, the patient feels significant shortness of breath, palpitations, at night his limbs swell, and in the morning he may experience pain in the heart area.

Degrees of chronic pathology

There are several degrees of chronic heart failure. The earlier a problem is identified, the easier it is to treat. In the later stages of the disease, mortality is 50%.

The first stage of chronic insufficiency is characterized by shortness of breath and rapid fatigue after active physical work or sports. Treatment at this time is most effective. Early detection of symptoms of chronic deficiency will not only help to cope with it, but also to determine the true cause.

In the second stage of heart failure, symptoms become more pronounced:

cyanosis, or blue discoloration of the fingertips, nose and nasolabial folds, lips. The reason is a change in blood composition, insufficient oxygen content.
With low-intensity loads, typical symptoms appear: shortness of breath, rapid heartbeat, weakness.
Dry cough not associated with a cold.

The second stage is characterized by damage to the pulmonary circulation, the lungs suffer, so a cough occurs, and the blood is poorly saturated with oxygen.

Another variant of the manifestation of the second stage is damage to the systemic circulation. First of all, swelling appears. They can be hidden: fluid accumulates in body cavities, for example, filling the abdominal cavity. Swelling of the legs is more noticeable. This condition is called dropsy.

In addition, stagnation begins in all organs: liver, kidneys, digestive system, brain. Associated pathologies develop and the functioning of these organs is disrupted.

At the third stage, irreversible changes occur. Usually the functioning of the entire circulatory system is disrupted. Lesion of the small circle is characterized by a strong cough with sputum production, the appearance of pink foam not only when coughing, but also at rest. This is explained by a violation of the permeability of numerous vessels, lymphatic fluid fills the lungs, and edema occurs. The condition is fatal and requires urgent hospitalization. Shortness of breath accompanies a person at rest. Worsens when lying down. Periodically there are attacks of suffocation, accompanied by fear of death. They force the patient into a sitting position with his legs down.

At the same time, all vital organs suffer. Signs of congestive liver damage:

increase in organ volume;
formation of sclerotic and connective tissue;
cirrhosis of the liver.

Congestive kidney damage leads to chronic renal failure. At the same time, the amount of urine excreted decreases, swelling increases and no longer goes away under the influence of medications. Intestinal dysfunction occurs, constipation or diarrhea is possible.

The third stage is irreversible. A person completely loses the ability to be active. Even household chores become beyond his power. Usually the patient is assigned a certain form of disability. The survival rate in this case is 50%. Medicine in this case can only offer supportive therapy.

Important! The third stage of the formation of congestive heart failure occurs as a result of the lack of treatment for the disease. If you consult a doctor in a timely manner in the early stages, you can not only stop the progression of the disease, but also be completely cured.

If you notice the following signs of heart failure, you should immediately contact a cardiologist:

Shortness of breath with minor physical exertion;
Blueness of fingers, lips, nose;
Unreasonable dry cough, sometimes accompanied by sputum production;
Pain in the chest, under the shoulder blade;
Swelling of the legs, enlargement of the abdomen, which may be hidden edema.

Mild heart failure responds well to treatment, so a preventive examination by a therapist and cardiologist and the necessary diagnostic methods will help avoid serious consequences.

Diagnosis of heart failure

At an early stage, methods are used to detect interruptions in the functioning of the heart under load that are not noticeable in a calm state. At the CBCP clinic, patients are offered the most effective of these methods:

daily ECG monitoring;
stress ECG;
Holter ECG;
Ultrasound of the heart;
stress echocardiography.

To diagnose chronic heart failure and study various abnormalities in the structure of the heart and blood vessels, CBCP also uses 24-hour blood pressure monitoring (ABPM), cardiac rhythmography, and a special cardiac screening program.

First aid for heart failure

First aid for heart failure is mainly required for acute illness, when the risk of myocardial infarction increases. Only a team of resuscitators with special equipment can provide qualified help. Therefore, you urgently need to call an ambulance.

While you are waiting for doctors, provide first aid for acute heart failure:

make the patient sit with pillows around him;
give him a nitroglycerin tablet;
provide air access.

If the patient has lost consciousness, it is necessary to perform an indirect cardiac massage.

Treating Heart Failure Symptoms

Treatment of chronic heart failure takes a lot of time, and many drugs (diuretics, glycosides, inhibitors, beta blockers) are prescribed to the patient for life. Basically, the action of the drugs is aimed at relieving the symptoms of the disease and making life easier for the patient. In particular, shortness of breath in heart failure is treated, swelling of the extremities is relieved, and blood pressure is normalized.

In acute cases of the disease, in addition to medications, surgical methods are used. The goal of treatment is to eliminate the causes that led to the disease: narrowing of the coronary artery, consequences of myocardial infarction. In case of severe pathological changes in cardiac tissue, a defibrillator is implanted in the patient.

Nutrition and daily routine

Meals should be fractional: 5-6 times a day in small portions. Limit the consumption of meat, salt, exclude smoked foods, chocolate, and alcohol. To replenish their strength, patients should eat foods high in potassium: buckwheat and oatmeal, bananas, dried apricots, Brussels sprouts, etc. A protein and vitamin diet is prescribed.

The daily routine depends on the form of the disease. In the acute form, only rest is necessary. In chronic cases, on the contrary, rest is contraindicated. The patient is advised to exercise in moderation, and a special system of exercises is developed to prevent the disease.

Qualified care for heart failure at the CBCP clinic

At the slightest suspicion of this disease, undergo diagnostics of the functioning of the heart and blood vessels. Modern diagnostic methods make it possible to determine the true cause of the disease in order to promptly block its further development.

The CBCP clinic has the latest expert-class equipment for diagnosing all types of this disease. Experienced, qualified cardiologists will advise you and give recommendations on how to treat heart failure.

Make an appointment right now on the website or during business hours by phone.

Disease prevention

In order to prevent pathology, all risk factors that can provoke it should be eliminated. If any negative symptoms appear, it is important to consult a doctor in order to promptly diagnose and treat lung or heart disease. Also, experts recommend leading a healthy lifestyle (not smoking or drinking alcohol), engaging in moderate physical activity and eating right. The diet should be balanced with a predominance of fresh vegetables and fruits.

In order to prevent the development of acute cor pulmonale, patients diagnosed with varicose veins and atrial fibrillation are prescribed indirect anticoagulants. If there are blood clots in the veins, a vena cava filter is often installed. It is a small device that is installed into the lumen of the inferior vena cava. With its help, detached blood clots do not enter parts of the heart muscle and the pulmonary artery system.