Health

What Is Congestive Heart Failure? Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prevention

[ad_1]

Edema and Heart Failure

Edema is swelling that is caused by excess fluid trapped in the body’s tissue.

The condition often occurs as the result of congestive heart failure. It can also be the result of medication, pregnancy, or another underlying condition, such as kidney disease or cirrhosis of the liver.

Signs that you have edema include:

  • Swelling or puffiness of the tissue directly under the skin, especially in the legs or arms
  • Arms or legs start to feel full or heavy
  • Shiny or stretched skin
  • Skin that retains pits, or dimples, after being pressed for several seconds
  • Clothing or jewelry starts to feel tight and uncomfortable
  • Skin near the swelling feels tight or warm
  • It becomes more difficult to move the joints that are affected
  • Increased abdominal size
If you have any of these symptoms, make an appointment to see your doctor. Seek medical attention immediately if you experience these symptoms along with shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, and chest pain.

Sleep Apnea and Heart Failure

Sleep apnea is a common but potentially serious sleep disorder that affects an estimated 30 million people in the United States, according to a review article.

People who have sleep apnea experience interruptions in breathing that can last 10 seconds or more and occur repeatedly throughout the night, as many as 30 times or more in the span of an hour.

This chronic disruption of the normal sleep cycle can leave individuals with the condition feeling exhausted and sleepy during the day, and it will put them at an increased risk of health problems associated with inadequate sleep, including irritability, problems with memory or concentration, anxiety, and depression.

Sleep apnea is commonly found in people with heart failure.

Heart failure can cause retention of sodium and water, and doctors suspect that the excess fluid may enter the lungs at night and lead to obstructive apnea. Heart failure also seems to be linked to problems with the respiratory control system, which may be a cause of central sleep apnea, notes the Mayo Clinic.

[ad_2]

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Back to top button