How To Live With Heart Failure Everyday

Heart failure is serious and they’re two words you don’t really want to hear. The fact is that the heart hasn’t stopped working, or that it can’t function, but heart failure remains a condition that requires a complete overhaul of the norm. It means a new lifestyle and serious thoughts on how to manage this serious disease on daily basis.

With heart failure, you feel your world crashing around you and you’re confronted with this huge insecurity. It isn’t so much about life’s insecurity, since life has always been unpredictable anyway, not just for you but for everybody. However, the good news is that a happy fulfilling life can be maintained with heart failure. Heart specialists recommend the following steps.

1. Don't allow your disease take over your life.

You can easily be overwhelmed with heart failure along with your coping mechanism. The last thing you want is to allow heart failure define who you are or how you want to live your life. Never lose your positive attitude which is a major component of managing the disease.

A young woman was diagnosed with heart failure and an inflammatory disease of the heart when she was 25. Doctors inserted a pacemaker in her chest, and four years on she continues to manage the realities of her illness every day. She immersed herself in buckets of positive attitude, though at times when the going gets unbearable she hooks up with family and friends for support. She believes the fact that being around loving and good people make life easier, especially people who empathise and understand what she’s going through.

2. Don’t skip your medication.

You probably see this as the obvious. But when heart failure is the topic here, rigorous adherence to medication becomes critical, as skipping your medication can be dangerous. The earlier you keep this as priority rule, the better.  Some of the medicines your doctor may recommend include: ACE inhibitors, which relax blood vessels to keep your blood pressure low and reduce the load on your heart; Beta-blockers which lower your blood pressure and slow your heart rate; Digoxin which strengthens the force of the heart muscle's contractions and slows the heart rate; Diuretics known as “water pills.”; Angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) also relax blood vessels and make it easier for your heart to do its job, and Isosorbide dinitrate/hydralazine which relaxes blood vessels. The benefits of these medications may help you live longer, breathe easier, be more energetic and active, with less swelling, and keep you out of hospital.

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3. Work together with your health care team.

Discuss with your doctors on frequent basis. It’s possible to have more than one or two doctors depending on your health status. For instance, you could be seeing a cardiologist and a pacemaker specialist every three months or so. Ensure you have their email addresses as well just in case a need for clarification arises in between visits. In addition, it’s also crucial to feel at ease with them, trusting them with the assurance you’re getting the best care you need.

After being diagnosed, it also helps to share with your doctors full details about how you feel at different parts of different days, and the impact of your medication, your diet, and exercise routine on your health. Several doctors recommend that you keep a journal and discuss it with your health care team.

4. Don’t do all at once, do what you can.

Heart failure patients normally feel fatigued, lightheaded, and shortness of breath. Take a rest when it’s needed and don’t go short on sleep. This can make a big difference. It’s not about staying in bed all day, but you have to determine what you can and can’t do at any given time and day. It’s crucial to maintain your priorities as regards the important things in your life, to determine how to go about it and plan for it. Overall, people are able to do many of the things that are very important to them, though they may have to give something else up.  People with heart failure often have to rest before and after an important event, but in all they can participate in any important event.

5. Keep up the exercise.

It’s crucial to move around, go for a walk, but you may have to start slowly. Don’t be worried if you get tired easily. That’s expected. But not exercising for days or weeks isn’t good. But once your health becomes your top priority, this in itself is great motivation to keep exercising. With this objective in mind, it becomes easier to set achievable goals. Some people with heart failure may be too cautious of their health and shun exercise.  But doctors advise that if you have a day where you do too much, this isn’t going to hurt your heart or make it fail faster.

6. Keep an eye on sodium and your weight.

Eating too much salt in your diet makes you retain water putting undue pressure on your heart. Health professionals recommend not more than 1,500 milligrams of sodium a day.

Tips to achieve this?

• Don’t add salt to your food.
• Eat low-sodium varieties of the foods you enjoy.
• Eat fresh or frozen meats, fish, eggs, yogurt, and many fruits.
• Be conscious of what’s on food labels.

If you’re gaining 2 pounds a day or 4 pounds a week, alert your doctor immediately.  This could be a sign that your heart failure is getting worse. The advice is that you weight yourself everyday same time same way, recording a precise record of weight gain or loss.

Similarly be watchful for swelling particularly in your legs, ankles, feet or hands. That could indicate a buildup of fluids, which is another proof that your heart may not be working as well as it should. So what this means is drinking several glasses of water or green tea may not really be good when your body is struggling to get rid of fluids.

Lastly, heart failure is not easy to live with, but how you deal with it is your choice. The most important thing is to ensure that you do something else outside heart failure first, rather than starting out with heart failure, and then whatever time left is pushed on important things. In other words don’t revolve your life around heart failure. Live outside it. People are happier when they have little to do with how critical their heart failure is. For more credible online information on Heart Failure visit WebMD

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