5 major symptoms of heart failure?
Heart failure is a complex and progressive clinical syndrome where the heart is unable to pump enough blood to meet the body’s metabolic demands, or can do so only at elevated filling pressures. It results from structural or functional impairment of ventricular filling or ejection of blood and may involve the left ventricle, right ventricle, or both.
This condition is not a single disease, but a complex syndrome that can arise from fundamentally different mechanical failures. The central problem is not just that the heart is weak, but understanding why the body’s seemingly logical responses—to increase heart rate, retain fluid, and constrict blood vessels—ultimately prove disastrous.
Heart failure is broadly classified into two main types based on the nature of the mechanical defect:
1-Systolic dysfunction and
2-Diastolic dysfunction
Symptoms :
Types of Heart Failure
- Left-sided heart failure
- Most common type
- Causes fluid buildup in the lungs
- Leads to shortness of breath
- Right-sided heart failure
- Causes swelling in legs, ankles, and abdomen
- Often develops after left-sided failure
- Congestive heart failure (CHF)
- Refers to fluid buildup (“congestion”) in tissues
Common Causes
- High blood pressure (hypertension)
- Coronary artery disease
- Previous heart attack
- Diabetes
- Heart valve disease
- Cardiomyopathy
