Heart failure
goodtoknow says: Heart failure affects around 900,000 people in the UK and experts believe another 200,000 people could have it and not even know. Heart failure is difficult to diagnose because the main symptoms, tiredness, shortness of breath and swelling of the ankles and feet, can be confused with other conditions. Heart failure doesn't mean your heart will stop working at any minute. It basically means that your heart is finding it more difficult to pump blood around your body. Medication such as beta blockers can really help. So can losing weight and giving up smoking.
For a full medical explanation of the causes, symptoms and treatments of heart failure from patient.co.uk read on.
Heart failure can be caused by various heart conditions. Symptoms include fluid retention, breathlessness, and tiredness. Medication can usually ease symptoms, and can often improve the outlook (prognosis).
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Sheila Davidson, over 2 years
Yes it was helpful but not comprehensive enough. Ok we know what heart failure is but what is the prognosis. My husband now 84 has all the symptoms and is on warfarin, ace inhibitors and various other medications for other conditions, he still has all the symptoms, so what now, does the dose of ace inhibitors need to be increased, what hope has he for the future, what future has he really got.
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