Congestive Heart Failure: Cardiovascular Disease

History: Martha Wilmington, a 74-year-old woman with a history of rheumatic fever while in her twenties, presented to her physician with complaints of increasing shortness of breath ("dyspnea") upon exertion. She also noted that the typical swelling she's had in her ankles for years has started to get worse over the past two months, making it especially difficult to get her shoes on toward the end of the day. In the past week, she's had a decreased appetite, some nausea and vomiting, and tenderness in the right upper quadrant of the abdomen.

Nearly 5.1 million people in the United States have been diagnosed with heart failure. Yet so many people don’t have a clue what it is until they have been diagnosed with it. Congestive Heart Failure, or CHF, is a disease that has many symptoms, can be tested and treated, has several causes, and can be avoided.

Congestive cardiac failure, also known as heart failure, occurs when the heart is weak and unable to sufficiently supply blood the body needs to function. Heart failure can often be successfully treated with

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Working on a cardiac unit for seven years has given me the opportunity to become familiar with congestive heart failure. This is a complicated condition that is sometimes difficult to manage. Your first questions is an excellent question, one that is extremely important when caring for these individuals with congestive heart failure. Without complete understanding of congestion heart failure, patients are frequently readmitted due to poor medical management. Caring for these individuals usually focus on treatments including the delicate balance of intake and output, medications and diagnostic testing. Your question regarding how CHF has impacted a person’s life focuses on the psychological aspect of this condition. Although

Congestive heart failure is an older name for heart failure. Congestive heart failure takes place when the heart is unable to maintain an adequate circulation of blood in the bodily tissues or to pump out the venous blood returned to it by the veins (Merriam-Webster). The heart is split into two distinct pumping structures, the right side of the heart and the left side of the heart. Appropriate cardiac performance involves each ventricle to extract even quantities of blood over intervals. If the volume of blood reimbursed to the heart develops more than both ventricles can manage, the heart can no longer be an efficient pump.

Understanding CHF is complex, but can be briefly stated as the “impaired structure and/or function of the heart, leading to dyspnea and fatigue at rest or with exertion” (Francis & Tang, 2003, p. S14). CHF is not a stand-alone disease, as there is always a cause. Francis and Tang (2003) list etiologies such as coronary heart disease, hypertension that is not well-controlled, valvular heart disease, and cardiomyopathies. Cardiomyopathy is a disease of the heart muscle (National Institute of Health [NIH], 2015). Cardiomyopathies may be primary idiopathic, genetic, lymphocytic inflammatory myocarditis, or stem from toxic chemicals such as amphetamines, cocaine, ephedrine, or chemotherapy. Although we do not know the etiology, we can surmise his Mr. P’s CHF is likely related to his cardiomyopathy.

Congestive Heart Failure is when the heart's pumping power is weaker than normal. It does not mean the heart has stopped working. The blood moves through the heart and body at a slower rate, and pressure in the heart increases. This means; the heart cannot pump enough oxygen and nutrients to meet the body's needs. The chambers of the heart respond by stretching to hold more blood to pump through the body or by becoming more stiff and thickened. This only keeps the blood moving for a short while. The heart muscle walls weaken and are unable to pump as strongly. This makes the kidneys respond by causing the body to retain fluid and sodium. When the body builds up with fluids, it becomes congested. Many conditions can cause heart

Heart failure affects nearly 6 million Americans. It is the leading cause of hospitalization in people older than 65. Roughly 550,000 people are diagnosed with heart failure each year (Emory Healthcare, 2014). Heart failure is a pathologic state where the heart cannot pump enough blood to meet the demand of the body’s metabolic needs or when the ventricle’s ability to fill is impaired. It is not a disease, but rather a complex clinical syndrome. The symptoms of heart failure come from pulmonary vascular congestion and inadequate perfusion of the systemic circulation. Individuals experience orthopnea,

Diagnosed with Congestive cardiomyopathy implies that the patient’s heart muscle has been debilitated by ailment and cannot sufficiently pump blood through the heart, which can lead to heart failure (“Columbia University Medical Center”, 2016). In this case study, the current situation of a male patient Mr. P., who is 76 years old, and frequently hospitalized with CHF is given. The purpose of this paper is to describe an approach to care with treatment plan recommendation, provide education to both the patient and his family, and a teaching plan.

Heart failure may convey that the heart isn’t working anymore, but what it really means is that the heart isn’t pumping as well as it should be (REF). Heart failure is a chronic, progressive condition in which the heart muscle is unable to pump enough blood through to meet the body’s needs for blood and oxygen (REF). At first, the heart tries to make up for this by enlarging, developing more muscle mass, and pumping faster. As this happens, the blood vessels narrow to keep blood pressure up and the body diverts blood away from less important tissues and organs to maintain flow to the heart and brain (REF). Eventually, the body and heart cannot keep up and the patient begins to feel fatigue, breathing problems, weight gain with swelling in the feet, legs, ankles or stomach, and other symptoms that eventually leads to a hospital visit. The body’s coping mechanisms give us better understanding on why many are unaware of their condition until years after the heart declines (REF).

Heart failure occurs when structural or functional cardiac disorders cause one or both ventricles of the heart not to pump effectively to meet the demands of the body (Lopez-Pazos, et al., 2011). Some symptoms of heart failure include: dyspnea on exertion, cough, fatigue, edema/weight gain, chest pain, palpitations, right upper abdominal pain or fullness, orthopnea, hemoptysis, bibasilar crackles, nocturnal dyspnea, pallor, cyanosis, tachycardia, weakness, exercise intolerance, murmur, S3 gallop, and hepatomegaly (Cash & Glass, 2014).

CHF occurs when the heart is no longer able to adequately pump blood causing a decrease in nutrients and oxygen to the body. The term CHF has widely been replaced by the terms acute failure and chronic failure because not all types of heart failure are accompanied by pulmonary congestion. However, in this pt’s case, she suffered from severe edema and fluid build-up in the lungs due to the failure. CHF is generally precipitated by other cardiac related conditions including, HTN, CAD, and past MIs, all of which are present in this pt’s history (Lewis, Heitkemper, Dirksen, Bucher, & Camera, 2014).

Congestive Heart failure (CHF) and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) are two major disparities affecting millions of individuals each year. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is characterized by a not completely reversible airflow obstruction due to a complex pathology involving large and small airways, lung parenchyma and the pulmonary vasculature (Site). Congestive heart failure is a condition that is known to decrease the amount of blood that is entering and exiting the heart due to increased weakness in the heart muscle and circulatory system. Symptoms and signs of COPD and CHF are shortness of breath, weakness, fatigue, increased cough and wheezing, increased mucus, edema, and rapid or irregular heartbeat. There are physical

Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a progressive disease that causes the heart to weaken and the cardiovascular system. This develops when the heart is cannot to pump enough blood to meet the demands of the body’s other organs (http://www.seniorsforliving.com). Narrowed arteries that supply the blood to the heart muscles or high blood pressure, and high cholesterol can also cause congestive heart failure. Knowing the signs of possible heart failure can help a person know on coming problem and possibly prevent a major heart attack. CHF is preventable and the best way this can be done is with minimizing the risk factors, and involves changing a person’s lifestyle, which is the key to much healthier life. This is accomplished by choosing to eat healthier adding fresh vegetables and fruit to a person’s diet, including a daily routine of exercise and physical activity, and retaining a healthy weight. To manage congestive heart failure a person should get proper rest, quit smoking, lose weight, maintain a low salt diet, and control stress. With controlling the influence of possible heart disease; fewer complication will develop from the disease and less health care and medications will become necessary. Therefore if people are able to minimize their risk for disease the health care delivery system can continue to provide help to the public without concern about