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Renal Insufficiency
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Heart failure, also called congestive heart failure, is a life-threatening condition in which the heart can no longer pump enough blood to the rest of the body.Heart failure is almost always a chronic, long-term condition, although it can sometime...
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Detailed information on congestive heart failure, including symptoms, diagnostic, and treatment information
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Medicines can help your heart work better. But they can't do their job unless you take them exactly as directed by your doctor. Some results: Medicines help you feel better. They help your heart work better. They can help you stay out of the hospital.
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Heart failure can happen in two ways. The heart muscle may become weak and enlarged (systolic dysfunction). The weakened muscle doesn't pump enough blood forward when the ventricles contract. Or, the heart muscle may become stiff (diastolic dysfunction). The stiff muscle can't relax between contractions, which keeps the ventricles from filling with enough blood.
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When you're living with heart failure, it's normal to feel sad or down at times. Some medications can also affect your mood. Following your treatment plan may seem like a lot to remember. If you feel overwhelmed, just focus on one day at a time.
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If you have congestive heart failure, knowing your body can help you manage your condition.
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Detailed information on congestive heart failure, including causes, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment
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Here's how you can stay healthy and prevent the problems that lead to a stay in the hospital.
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It's important to ask your provider questions during your visit to make sure you understand your condition and what your treatment involves.
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Once you have heart failure, flare-ups can happen. Gaining weight is often the first warning sign of trouble. That's why you need to weigh yourself each day. But there are other signs of trouble, too. Here are some things to watch for.
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If you have CHF, it's important to stick with your treatment, even when you're feeling better. You also need to maintain healthy habits.
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Being active doesn't mean that you have to wear yourself out. Even a little movement each day helps to strengthen your heart. If you can't get out to exercise, you can do simple stretching and strengthening exercises at home.
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Certain procedures may help in some cases of heart failure. They are done to treat health problems that are affecting your heart. Here are some examples.
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If you have COPD, it may be difficult to tell whether you also have heart failure (HF). This is because the two diseases have similar symptoms and common risk factors.
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When you have heart failure, excess fluid is more likely to build up in your body. This makes the heart work harder to pump blood. Controlling the amount of salt (sodium) you eat may help prevent fluid from building up.
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A sudden weight gain or a steady rise in weight is a warning sign that your body is retaining too much water and salt. This could mean your heart failure is getting worse. Weighing yourself each day is the best way to know if you're retaining water.
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To evaluate your condition, your doctor will examine you, ask questions, and run tests. Along with looking for signs of heart failure, the doctor looks for any other health problems that may have led to heart failure.
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Over time, new medications and techniques have made heart failure somewhat less life-threatening than it used to be.
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Nesiritide (Natrecor), used to treat symptoms of heart failure since 2001, may be less safe than once thought.
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A Harvard Medical School physician answers your question about medications appropriate for recovery from heart failure.
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BiDil, a drug recently approved to treat heart failure in African-Americans, may be useful for any heart failure patient. A guide to the FDA's approval of the controversial drug.
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Heart failure makes it hard for oxygen to get into the blood, causing shortness of breath.
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The pacemaker has come a long way since its earliest days: Examining promising results from a study that shows cardiac resynchronization therapy, via a new biventricular pacemaker, may help heart patients.
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"Heart failure" is a broad term—often used inter-changeably with"congestive heart failure"(CHF)—to describe the heart''s inability to consistently pump enough blood to the body''s organs and tissues. Heart failure occurs either from a st...
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Heart failure is a condition in which the heart has lost the ability to pump enough blood to the body''s tissues. With too little blood being delivered, the organs and other tissues do not receive enough oxygen and nutrients to function properly.Ac...
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High heat and humidity is more dangerous for those with heart failure, because the body chooses to maintain blood pressure rather than disperse body heat via blood vessels near the skin.
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For people with severe heart failure, a pumping device called a left ventricular assist may prolong life for those who are not healthy enough for transplant surgery, or who face a lenghty wait on the transplant list.
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Some medications taken by people with heart disease to counteract water buildup in the body can remove too much potassium from the body, while others can leave too much behind.
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Analysis of benefits and risks regarding beta blockers.
Not that long ago, beta blockers were believed to make heart failure worse. By slowing the heart rate, reducing the force of the heart's contractions, and relaxing blood vessels, so the thinking went, these drugs contributed to the deterioration of heart function. Large clinical trials showed just the opposite — beta blockers help people with heart failure live longer and stay out of the hospital, and over time strengthen the heart.
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I was just diagnosed with heart failure. My husband and I like to travel. Is it okay for people like me to fly?
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The possible heart benefits of Tai chi.The easy exercises and deep breathing of this Chinese martial art could offer excellent self-defense for the damaged or failing heart.
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It's important for people with heart failure to monitor potassium intake and levels when taking the diuretic spironolactotone.
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About half of those diagnosed with heart failure survive for at least five years, but the number of diagnoses has increased significantly.
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People with heart failure may benefit from a device implanted in the upper chest that monitors blood pressure inside the heart.
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A study comparing different forms of exercise for people with moderate heart failure found that ballroom dancing was as effective as a traditional exercise regimen, and also improved patients' quality of life.
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Remote monitoring is the wave of the future in managing heart disease.New technology makes it easier to keep tabs on your heart, and heart disease.
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Digitalis drugs are medicines made from a type of foxglove plant( Digitalis purpurea) that have a stimulating effect on the heart.Digitalis drugs are used to treat heart problems such as congestive heart failure and irregular heartbeat. These medi...
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Hypokalemia is a condition of below normal levels of potassium in the blood serum. Potassium, a necessary electrolyte, facilitates nerve impulse conduction and the contraction of skeletal and smooth muscles, including the heart.
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Hypomagnesemia means low levels of magnesium in the blood.Several conditions can cause hypomagnesemia, including:.The condition also can be caused by the use of drugs that increase urine output(diuretics).
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Drug-drug interactions occur when one drug interacts or interferes with another drug. Such interactions are dangerous because they can alter the way one or both of the drugs act in the body. They can also cause unexpected side effects. The following information can help you avoid drug-drug interactions.
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Drug metabolism is the process by which the body breaks down and converts medication into active chemical substances.Drugs can interact with other drugs, foods, and beverages. Interactions can lessen or magnify the desired therapeutic effect of a ...
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Drug interactions are changes in the effect of one drug due to the effect of either another drug taken at the same time(drug-drug interactions) or food consumed while the drug is being taken(drug-food interactions).Some drugs are deliberately comb...
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