Congestive Heart Failure

With congestive heart failure (CHF), your heart is too weak to adequately pump blood throughout your body, leading to fluid buildup in your legs, arms, and lungs. The team of board-certified physicians at Advanced Medical Care in Brighton Beach (Brooklyn) and Forest Hills (Queens), New York, takes a personalized approach to manage CHF using the most current treatments available. Call today or schedule your CHF consultation online.

What is congestive heart failure?

Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a long-term condition that affects your heart’s ability to supply your body with oxygen-rich blood. Though heart failure and CHF are used interchangeably, CHF is a type of heart failure.

Heart failure happens when your heart is too weak to pump enough blood to your lungs to pick up oxygen or too weak to pump that oxygen-rich blood to the rest of your body.

CHF happens when your heart is so weak that it can’t pump blood back to the heart and lungs. The blood backs up, leaking through the blood vessel walls and causing edema (swelling) in the legs and arms and a fluid buildup in the lungs.

The congestive part of CHF refers to fluid accumulation in the body.

What causes congestive heart failure?

Many conditions can lead to the development of CHF. In most cases, CHF results from an underlying heart condition like coronary artery disease (CAD), atrial fibrillation (AFib), or cardiomyopathy.

Infections, autoimmune conditions, and medical treatments can also damage the heart, leading to heart failure. Other health conditions, like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or diabetes, can put you at risk of developing CHF.

What are the symptoms of congestive heart failure?

CHF symptoms range from mild to severe. During the early stages, you might not have noticeable symptoms. Common symptoms of CHF include:

• Shortness of breath during activity
• Fatigue
• Coughing
• Swelling in the legs or abdomen
• Difficulty sleeping
• Increased urination
• Nausea
• Poor appetite

When left untreated, CHF can cause other health problems like cardiac arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat), liver disease, or cardiac arrest (a life-threatening complication when your heart stops beating).

How is congestive heart failure treated?

The elite team of health professionals at Advanced Medical Care creates personalized treatment plans for CHF after completing an evaluation and then testing. Treatment depends on the severity of your CHF and can include lifestyle changes and disease-specific medication.

Your cardiologist at Advanced Medical Care could also suggest cardiac rehabilitation with the physical therapy team to help you learn how to manage your CHF at home.

In some cases, the team recommends placing devices to support your heart’s function. These include an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) or pacemaker.

If your heart failure is life-threatening, you might need a heart transplant.

Call Advanced Medical Care today or book an appointment online to learn more about CHF treatment.