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Diseases » Heart failure » Signs
 

Signs of Heart failure

Contents
  1. Heart failure: Introduction
  2. Symptoms of Heart failure
  3. Tests to Confirm Diagnosis
  4. Home Diagnostic Testing
  5. Failure to Diagnose
  6. Alternative Diagnoses
  7. Misdiagnosis
  8. Complications
  9. More about Symptoms
  10. Article Excerpts
  11. Medical articles

Symptoms of Heart failure

The list of medical symptoms mentioned in various sources for Heart failure may include:

List of 22 Heart failure Symptoms

Note that Heart failure symptoms usually refers to various medical symptoms known to a patient, but the phrase Heart failure signs may often refer to those signs that are only noticable by a doctor.

Signs or Symptoms of Heart failure:

A number of symptoms are associated with heart failure, but none is specific for the condition. Perhaps the best known symptom is shortness of breath ("dyspnea") . In heart failure, this may result from excess fluid in the lungs. The breathing difficulties may occur at rest or during exercise. In some cases, congestion may be severe enough to prevent or interrupt sleep.

Fatigue or easy tiring is another common symptom. As the heart's pumping capacity decreases, muscles and other tissues receive less oxygen and nutrition, which are carried in the blood. Without proper "fuel," the body cannot perform as much work, which translates into fatigue.

Fluid accumulation, or edema, may cause swelling of the feet, ankles, legs, and occasionally, the abdomen. Excess fluid retained by the body may result in weight gain, which sometimes occurs fairly quickly.

Persistent coughing is another common sign, especially coughing that regularly produces mucus or pink, blood-tinged sputum. Some people develop raspy breathing or wheezing.

Because heart failure usually develops slowly, the symptoms may not appear until the condition has progressed over years. The heart hides the underlying problem by making adjustments that delay--but do not prevent--the eventual loss in pumping capacity. The heart adjusts, or compensates, in three ways to cope with and hide the effects of heart failure:

  • Enlargement ("dilatation"), which allows more blood into the heart;

  • Thickening of muscle fibers ("hypertrophy") to strengthen the heart muscle, which allows the heart to contract more forcefully and pump more blood; and

  • More frequent contraction, which increases circulation.
By making these adjustments, or compensating, the heart can temporarily make up for losses in pumping ability, sometimes for years. However, compensation has its limits. Eventually, the heart cannot offset the lost ability to pump blood, and the signs of heart failure appear. (Source: excerpt from NHLBI, Heart Failure: NHLBI)

More Symptoms of Heart failure:

More detailed symptom information may be found on the symptoms of Heart failure article. In addition to the above medical information, to get a full picture of the possible signs or symptoms of this condition and also possibly the signs and symptoms of its related medical conditions, it may be necessary to examine symptoms that may be caused by:

Medical articles on signs and symptoms:

These general reference articles may be related to medical signs and symptoms of disease in general:

What are the signs of Heart failure?

The phrase "signs of Heart failure" should, strictly speaking, refer only to those signs and symptoms of Heart failure that are not readily apparent to the patient. The word "symptoms of Heart failure" is the more general meaning; see symptoms of Heart failure.

The signs and symptom information on this page attempts to provide a list of some possible signs and symptoms of Heart failure. This medical information about signs and symptoms for Heart failure has been gathered from various sources, may not be fully accurate, and may not be the full list of Heart failure signs or Heart failure symptoms. Furthermore, signs and symptoms of Heart failure may vary on an individual basis for each patient. Only your doctor can provide adequate diagnosis of any signs or symptoms and whether they are indeed Heart failure symptoms.


 » Next page: Complications of Heart failure

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