Heart failure occurs when the heart becomes too weak or too stiff. If nothing is done to address the cause or symptoms, the condition worsens over time.
With heart failure, the heart can no longer keep up with its demands to pump blood to the rest of the body. Therefore, many of us associate it with more obvious symptoms such as fatigue or shortness of breath. However, there are some signs that can be mistaken for something else.
“Patients may experience “a persistent cough. Some of the warning signs of heart failure are intuitive, such as swelling of the ankles, shortness of breath, chest pain, rapid or irregular heartbeat, and fatigue during exercise,” says Oleg Varfolomeev, a cardiologist, for the MedikForum.<
There are other symptoms that people may not associate with heart failure.
“These include a persistent cough, bloating, rapid weight gain, nausea and lack of appetite. People who experience any of these symptoms should contact their healthcare provider.”
Coronary artery disease is the leading cause of heart failure. And stiffness of the heart muscle is mainly the result of poorly controlled hypertension or diabetes.
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But there are also rarer causes of heart failure, such as myocarditis , which can be caused by a viral infection, and cardiomyopathy. There are also lifestyle risk factors.
“Maintaining a healthy diet, managing obesity, avoiding tobacco and secondhand smoke, and avoiding alcohol may help prevent heart failure.”
Other risk factors heart failure include sleep apnea, some drugs used to treat cancer, and viral infections that damage the heart muscle.
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