What is Heart Failure?
Heart Failure (HF) can occur when your heart cannot pump blood efficiently; meaning that not enough blood can be pumped around to the rest of your body.
Often it is because your heart has become weakened or even too thick and stiff to pump effectively.
HF should not be interpreted as your heart stopping, that is a different condition called a cardiac arrest.
Different types of Heart Failure
There are four types of heart failure.
It would be best to speak with your cardiologist about which of these types is applicable to your condition.
Diastolic:
This is a condition where your left ventricle (the main pumping chamber) cannot relax or fill effectively.
Systolic:
The left ventricle cannot pump effectively.
Right-sided:
You experience a fluid build-up in areas such as your legs and abdomen.
Left-sided:
You experience an accumulation of fluid in your lungs that can lead you to feel short of breath.
There are many causes for HF:
- Cardiomyopathy
- Myocarditis, which is when the heart muscle becomes inflamed due to viral infection
- Coronary Artery Disease and Heart Attack
- Heart valve disease
- Congenital heart issues
- Arrhythmias (abnormal heart rhythms)
- Hypertension (high blood pressure)
Statistics
It is estimated that around 111,000 in Australia have a form of Heart Failure, however it is the heart condition that is responsible for the 2nd most-related admissions.
Women in Australia have less hospitalisations than men for heart failure.
Heart failure is more prominent in Aboriginal and Torres-Strait Islander populations.
In the UK, women have a high incidence of HF than men, however in Australia men have a higher incidence than women.
Signs & symptoms of Heart Failure
Your heart failure symptoms may depend on your type of heart failure.
These are some of the potential heart failure symptoms you may experience:
- Significant weight gain
- Difficulty concentrating
- Abdominal swelling
- Waking up at night to pass urine frequently
- Nausea
- Chest pain
- Decreased appetite
- Palpitations
- Noticeable decrease in your tolerance of exercise
- Coughing and wheezing, at times with phlegm and blood
- Oedema (fluid build-up) in your legs, calves and feet
- Shortness of breath, even at rest
- Weakness and lethargy
- Fatigue
Treating Heart Failure
There are many different treatment options available for Heart Failure, it depends on your severity of heart failure.
Medication Treatment For Heart Failure
There are different medications which may be required for treating HF to help manage your symptoms and maintain your heart function. NPS Medicinewise could be a good place to find out more information about them, as well as speaking to your doctors or pharmacist.
Diuretics
These medications aim to remove excess fluid from your body.
Beta-blockers
These medications are designed to normalise your heart rate and rhythm.
ACE inhibitors
ACE inhibitors work to decrease the amount of salt retained by the body, reducing your overall blood pressure.
Aldosterone antagonists
These are a type of diuretic that are helpful for people with heart failure.
Angiotensin II receptor blockers
These medications relax your blood vessels, reducing your overall blood pressure.
Cardioversion
Cardioversion is a painless procedure which attempts to get your heart back to a normal rhythm. In a cardioversion, you are given a general anesthetic (put to sleep) and gentle electric currents are sent to the heart to put it back to normal rhythm.
Catheter Ablation
In a catheter ablation, your doctor will send energy to parts of your heart to remove the section that can cause fast heart beat. Before removing the tissue, your doctor will map out which sections of the heart are causing the abnormal rhythm.
Pacemaker
Pacemakers are small devices that control your heart rate with electrical signals. The device sits on your left or right shoulder under your skin, with leads sitting in your heart providing the electric signals. Most people recover from the procedure within a few weeks of treatment.