Heart failure is a heart disease caused by poor circulation. The heart is not able to effectively pump blood, in this regard, the circulation of oxygen and nutrients throughout the body is violated, the result is a stagnation of blood. In addition, heart failure can provoke coronary heart disease, heart disease, lung disease, myocarditis, rheumatism and arterial hypertension.
Prevention of heart failure
The main preventive actions are:
- Exercise of the cardiovascular system.
- Reduction of excess weight .
Heart failure can cause increased stress, so it is necessary to train the cardiovascular system. It is important that the exercises are dosed and individually selected.
In a stable state, doctors recommend walking for 20-30 minutes 3-5 times a week. An alternative is to ride a bicycle for 20 minutes five times a week. However, the duration of the loads can be determined by the person himself, the only prerequisite is that the state of health does not worsen. The first signal that the occupation should stop is the appearance of a light sniffle.
Classification of heart failure
In medicine, there are several classifications of heart failure. Recently, the most widespread is the one that was proposed by the New York Heart Association.
On the basis of subjective indicators, four functional classes are distinguished:
I functional class - has no limitations in physical activity. Habitual physical activity does not cause fatigue, weakness, shortness of breath and palpitations.
II functional class - restrained restriction of physical activity. Patients who are at rest do not show any pathological symptoms.
III functional class is an explicit limitation of physical activity. A small physical load causes patients to display clinical symptoms.
IV functional class - the slightest physical activity causes discomfort in the chest. Symptoms are manifested even in a calm state, and small physical exertion can exacerbate symptoms.
Causes of heart failure
The main cause of heart failure is any disease in a pathological condition that disrupts the heart. In most cases, heart failure is a natural outcome of heart and vascular disease. Sometimes the disease can serve as the first signal of a serious heart disease.
After the onset of hypertension, it may take a long time before the first symptoms of heart failure appear. The disease can progress rapidly enough, often it's even not about days and hours, but about minutes. In such cases, one can speak of acute insufficiency. The remaining cases are classified as chronic heart failure.
The main directions of treatment of heart failure are:
- Symptomatic treatment is the elimination of symptoms.
- Protection of organs that are most affected by poor functioning of the heart. Most often it is the brain, kidneys and blood vessels.
- Prolonged life of the patient and improvement of her quality.
Symptoms of Chronic Heart Failure
In children, chronic insufficiency manifests itself as a backwardness in physical development, anemia and a lack of weight. In addition, the child can be disturbed by breathing, central and peripheral blood circulation.
In adults, chronic heart failure is accompanied by polycythemia and acrocyanosis. For patients of any age, the common symptom is the pallor of the skin.
In the early stage of chronic failure, the disease manifests itself only under physical stress. In the late stages, the symptoms are stable and can be expressed even when the patient takes a horizontal position, resulting in shortness of breath.
First aid for heart failure
First aid for heart failure should be aimed at improving the contractility of the heart. If heart failure is associated with angina, then under the tongue of the patient it is necessary to put one tablet of nitroglycerin. The doctor, providing first aid, should apply strophanitis, korglikon and digoxin.
To reduce the stagnation of blood in the pulmonary vessels, euphyllin is effective. The drug can be administered intravenously as a 2.4% solution and intramuscularly as a 24% solution. To increase oxygen, the patient is allowed to breathe moistened oxygen. Furosemide or novorite is also introduced.
How to treat heart failure?
The most important thing in the treatment of chronic heart failure is to relieve the patient of the symptoms. The treatment used must fully correspond to the subjective requirements of the patient.
When treating the disease, the following methods are used:
- diet;
- individual mode of physical activity;
- medical control;
- psychological rehabilitation;
- drug therapy;
- surgical, mechanical and electrophysiological treatment.
It should be remembered that the treatment of acute heart failure is a difficult process, as it often involves the treatment of accompanying diseases.
Treatment of heart failure folk remedies
From the end of the 18th century the most effective folk remedy in the treatment of heart failure is foxglove, it is also called digitalitis. The peculiarity of digitalis consists in the fact that it affects only the sick heart and does not have any effect on the healthy one. The drugs of digitalis increase the contractile function of the myocardium, the result of this effect is an increased amount of ejected blood.