Heart Failure

Question: What's the difference between heart disease & heart failure in dogs? My Cavalier has heart disease (I think it is MVD). She has been on tablets for several months for it. On the packet it says that they are for the treatment of heart failure in dogs. I used to think that heart failure was when the heart just stopped working and the dog died, but that is obviously not the case. What does heart failure actually mean? Thanks xx

Answer: http://www.cavalierhealth.org/mitral_valve_disease.htm This has lots of info. Heart disease in cavaliers means the mitral valve(and occasionally the tricuspid valve)is diseased and leaking.Heart failure means the disease has progressed till the heart doesn't pump efficiently and the fluid builds up in the lungs,also known as chf. The most common drugs for mvd are ace inhibitors.enalapril and benazapril,with lasix added when failure occurs and pimobendan added as they hit later stages of the disease. Try and find a vet experienced in heart disease.

Question: Is a rapid heart rate one of the symptoms of congestive heart failure? I have a friend who has been diagnosed with acute congestive heart failure. He does not qualify for a heart transplant for several reasons. I remember reading somewhere that towards the end, the heart rate will increase to compensate for the heart damage. Is this a symptom that he may die soon?

Answer: Arrhythmias occur in congestive heart failure. And a rapid heartbeat does not necessarily mean he's going to die soon; chf patients experience episodes of arrhythmia. My brother died of chf, and his heart was beating normally.

Question: can somsone describe the difference between left heart failure and right heart failure? in etiology, pathogenesis and symptoms. And what are the two ways in which right heart failure can occur, and what are the complications of heart failure?

Answer: Heart Failure is basically the heart's inability to function as an effective and efficient pump. The etiology or pathogenesis stems from actual damage to the heart tissue. Damage can occur from myocardial infarctions (heart attacks), stenosis from any of the valves (mitral, aortic, pulmonic, tricuspid), pulmonary hypertension, or disease process such as pericarditis. Complications from heart failure includes a decreased ejection fraction, increased fatigue, general weakness, shortness of breath, dyspnea on exertion, pulmonary edema, and pitting edema to the lower extremities. I hope this helps. Feel free to email me if you have any other questions.

Question: What are some symptoms of heart failure in women? Is excessive sweating a symptom? I am 46 year old female with heart failure and take coreg and lisinipril. Lately I've noticed tremendous waves of hot flashes and excessive sweating and heat.

Answer: Stop looking online to match your symptoms and see a doctor. They will help you out if it is. If it isn't, online will only make you stress more and stress is never good.

Question: What are the symptoms and treatment for chronic heart failure? I have already had quintuplet by pass surgery in 2003 and then had 5 stents placed in my heart in 2005. Recently I have had severe edema in my legs and my ankles and feet. I went to a few vascular surgeons and they said it was not any clots or blockages to my veins or a. They said my problems were most likely chronic heart failure. I am now on Lasix and weigh myself every day,but still feel bad. Any suggestions?

Answer: If you are now on Lasix that will help you remove the excess fluids that is in your legs and ankles. One thing you have to do is to limit your fluid intake. Since you have chronic heart failure, your heart cannot tolerate too much fluid in the body. This will make you more ill. Excess fluid intake can also accumulate not only on your legs and ankles but also in the lungs which will make you breathless. Try to ascertain or ask your cardiologist how much fluid intake you are allowed per day.

Question: Can a person live with Congestive heart failure? I had hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, which i just found out this week has turned into dialated cardiomyopathy with congestive heart failure. Is it possible to get it under control and live with congestive heart failure?

Answer: I suggest you try this website. It is a gold mine of information and you'll find out about everything there is to know about CHF or join in the forum and ask you own questions. This site covers it all..http://www.chfpatients.com...Good Luck For a matter of information here is a preview of what's there. Make a donation to CHFpatients.com Search CHFpatients.com The Beat Goes On - message boards Official CHF Treatment & Testing Guidelines Heart Info Mailing List Me Too! - others in the same boat Who's Who around here Archive of heart forum posts Talk To Jon Heart Failure Info Read The Manual! All about heart failure Exercising with heart failure Heart failure FAQ Diastolic heart failure Pulmonary hypertension WWW heart failure links Medspeak medical dictionary Lots of heart failure info in text files Social Security Disability Low sodium cooking Low sodium recipes CHF Treatment The New Page! Find a heart failure specialist in your area Heartbytes Heart failure tests Heart failure surgeries and procedures ICDs, LVADs, pacemakers & artificial hearts Just kidding CHF Meds Standard heart failure meds ACE inhibitors Coreg & beta-blockers Beta-blocker Over-view New heart failure drugs IV drugs for heart failure Financial help with drugs Supplements & Alternative Nutrient Stew CoQ10 for heart failure Minerals and heart failure Vitamins and heart failure Alternative therapies & heart failure Herbs and heart failure Nutrients for heart failure Heart Transplant Heart transplant - A to Z Heart transplant meds Transplant Update - the latest One man's heart transplant story Links to more heart transplant info Spirituality Why a heart site has spiritual pages The Christmas Terror The Best Christian Bands The Downhill Slide Faith Smokin! - You can quit! Spiritual Windows wallpapers Jon's Place - sister site Jon's Place Jon on heart failure Jokes Games How Jon's Place happened Jon's random thoughts Windows desktop wallpapers Jon on Coreg, exercise & the Atkins' Diet Find What You Need Search CHFpatients.com Start Here Search Tip Here CHFpatients.com, Inc. Hope this helps you out !!

Question: How to treat heart failure disease naturally in dogs? I am looking for a natural alternative to treat heart failure disease in dogs. My beloved Collie has been diagnosed last week and I am scared that all this medication will kill him. Any of you tried alternative medicine with success? Please help!

Answer: if you dont give him all the medication it will kill him there is no natural way you can not give him the mebs and slowly kill him and he will suffer or give him a longer life and give him the mebs

Question: What are the risks associated with congestive heart failure and pregnancy? My friend recently found out she is pregnant. When giving birth to her son the dr's discovered she has congestive heart failure. She has made an appointment with her dr. but we were wanting to find out in advance what the risks are. Please list credible web sites that may help.

Answer: Peripartum cardiomyopathy is a rare disorder in which a heart muscle weakening is noted within the final month of pregnancy or within 5 months after delivery. http://cardiophile.com/what-is-peripartum-cardiomyopathy http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000188.htm

Question: My 23 yr old brother has heart failure,does anyone know the leading heart surgeon in the Uk for a 2nd opinion? My brother is in heart failure due to severe aortic regurgitation. I am seeking a second opinion as surgery is expected within the next few weeks. I'm struggling to find who is the leading heart consultant/surgeon in the UK to do this. Can anyone help?

Answer: I'm not sure if there is a "superstar" consultant in this country. There are excellent teams at many hospitals, who often mix-&-match, so it's hard to tell who's working the miracles. The Health Care Comission and the Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery have set up a joint website with statistics on Survival Rates, but of course a good surgeon does more than just keep 'em alive!

Question: Is it important for people with congestive heart failure to avoid sweets and refined sugars? I have cogestive heart failure, but no diabetes. Do I have to control my intake of refined sugars?

Answer: well it depends if you would like to have a heart attack - stay away from the rubbish food, do some exercise (if u can i know it might be tough) and definately see ur doctor about things like EPO and ADH - u need to maintain ur blood volume so make sure u drink lots and lots and lots of water this is very important

Question: Heart failure? If someone had a heart attack, and their Troponin levels kept getting higher, does that mean its getting worse? Also, if the heart attack occurred and there was minor damage to the heart, does that mean heart failure doesnt always happen? or does heart failure happen all of the time after a heart attack?

Answer: You can have small heart attacks which are not fatal however they cause scarring on the tissue of heart. Its when they have a massive heart attack that people die due HEART FAILURE.

Question: What Are The Chances Of Surviving A Heart Failure? my uncle had suffered a heart failure, and he's in the hospital fresh out of surgery. after this i went online to check out information of heart failures and such. and i have seen some yahoo answer users saying that heart failures = death. and they said that he was better off with a heart attack. im just curious. thanks ps. happy holloween! 1 day late i know.

Answer: Hi James, Heart failure (cardiac failure) just means that the heart is unable to pump enough blood to the organs of the body. It can be due to many diseases eg MI (heart attack), extremely high bp over a long time, valve disease (eg aortic stenosis, narrowing of the aortic valve), diphtheria, etc. etc. It depends how bad it is as to what will happen, and the cause. It can lead to death, but most patients live for several years on medication. Hope this helps. For more info, IM.

Question: How much time can one have between heart failure and defibrillation in order to survive? A friend of mine has cardiac problems and has a chance of experiencing heart failure. Can anyone tell me what the longest timeframe between heart failure and defibrillation is? I would like to know how long it would take before complete brain death, so I could have a general idea of when the paramedics should be arriving, and if they are late or not. Thanks.

Answer: Heart failure is a condition where the heart muscle is weakened and doesn't function as well as it should, there also may be parts of the muscle which have died as a result of coronary artery blockages. You wouldn't defibrillate for heart failure unless they went into ventricular fibrillation. From onset of ventricular fibrillation (cardiac arrest) you have about 4 minutes before you get brain damage. If you are present when the patient has a cardiac arrest you need to start basic life support (CPR) as soon as possible to keep the patient going until the paramedics arrive. The quicker that advanced life support starts the better (drugs and defibrillation) but it's highly unlikely they would arrive within 4 minutes so it's up to you to make sure that you can do basic life support if you want to help your friend survive if the worst happens. If he's at risk of ventricular fibrillation then they might consider fitting him with a BiVentricular ICD (internal defibrillator) also known as a CRT Defibrillator (cardiac resynchronisation therapy defib) which helps to synchronise the bottom chambers of the heart but will also deliver a shock if he goes into cardiac arrest.

Question: What are the signs and symptoms of left sided heart failure due to decreased cardiac output? What are the signs and symptoms of left sided heart failure due to pulmonary congestion?

Answer: Left sided heart failure causes blood to back up into the lungs, which cause shortness of breath. It's usually a systolic heart failure, meaning the problem is in the left ventricle and it's inability to pump effectively to maintain cardiac output to perfuse the body. A way to understand symptoms is to think forward from the left ventricle: cardiac output is insufficient to deliver the needed oxygen and nutrients to the cells, so there will be fatigue, weakness, reduced ability to exercise, decreased ability to concentrate,decreased urine output, etc. Then think backwards from the left ventricle: blood backs up into the left atrium, then into pulmonary system. This causes shortness of breath with activity, or when you lie down, persistent coughing and white or blood-tinged sputum (phlegm), weight gain from fluid retention, just to name some.

Question: What is the difference between Congestive Heart Failure and Coronary Artery Disease? For all you really smart people out there: What is the difference between Congestive Heart Failure and Coronary Artery Disease?

Answer: CHF means that the heart is becoming an ineffective pump. As a result, fluid starts backing up in to the lungs and body. CAD means that plaque buildup is narrowing the blood vessels supplying the heart, the precursor to having a heart attack

Question: how long does the average person live after congestive heart failure? I had a heart attack on dec 25th of last year 2007, they had to put in three stints, the next night a blood clot caused my stints to collapse causing once again another heart attack. They explained to me that i have congestive heart failure with an ejection fraction of 30-35%. I have looked up various sites on the subject, but still have no answer. The doctors don't help me either. Could someone please help me to obtain an answer?

Answer: Congestive heart failure is often undiagnosed due to a lack of a universally agreed definition and difficulties in diagnosis, particularly when the condition is considered "mild". Even with the best therapy, heart failure is associated with an annual mortality of 10%. It is the leading cause of hospitalization in people older than 65. Dr. James Jeah MD