What is Heart Failure?
Heart failure does not mean your heart is about to stop working. The term describes what happens when the heart is struggling to pump enough blood around your body.
Usually, symptoms of heart failure develop over time as the heart muscle becomes too weak or stiff to work properly. This is known as chronic heart failure. Acute heart failure is when symptoms of heart failure happen quickly.
There are two main types of heart failure- Heart failure due to the left ventricular systolic dysfunction and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.
How common is Heart Failure?
Heart failure affects about 900,000 people in the UK, with an average age of 76. It is more common in men than women and can be caused by a number of other conditions, such as high blood pressure or a heart attack.
What are the symptoms of Heart Failure?
Common symptoms of heart failure are breathlessness, extreme tiredness and weakness, swelling in the legs, ankles and feet, waking up in the night gasping, a cough that won’t go away, nausea, lack of appetite and weight loss.
How is Heart Failure treated?
Patients with specific causes of heart failure may have surgery to treat the problem, and people with an abnormal heart rhythm may have a pacemaker fitted to correct the issue.
For most people heart failure is a lifelong condition, and needs to be treated with lifestyle changes, medication and sometimes surgery.
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