Symptoms of heart failure

[Euve]

Does anyone have heart failure on the site, and if so can you please let me know the symptoms I have afib and lately have been out of breath I never had this before, it could be anxiety or heart failure which is one of the symptoms

[rosyG]

Hi

People are often breathless with AF - heart failure would also involve symptoms like swollen ankles/ legs, There is a blood test BNP which is good at showing heart failure so ask your GP if you are worried.

[Hidden]

It can be your meds( betablocker) that can make one feel breathless and tight in the chest with exercise especially. Sometimes it gets better with time. Ive noticed it comes and goes with me, might have alot to do with the humidity and barometric pressure.

[Seventy9 in reply to Hidden]

Hi interesting I now take

Bisoperolo and 5 mg of Ramipril

While I do believe they are

Working certainly feel lack of breath at times walking.

That said can walk ok and go to Gym most Days .

But now thinking about Medication

Thought only about Heart.

John

[DawnTX in reply to Seventy9]

John make sure you keep things like your electrolytes up. If you are doing things like walking and going to the gym. Stay dehydrated but you also need to illuminate fluid lol it’s really confusing sometimes isn’t it? I have not had fluid retention that is visible, and yet I have had it around my heart and needed a diuretic at one point. When I have had a procedure, I tend to have an issue for a day or two after because of the IV fluids. When I am feeling off one of the first things I do is have my sport drink with electrolytes. That being said, make sure that it is a sport drink with that and not energy drink with caffeine at Cetera. I did that by mistake once and it wasn’t good. Feel better. It sounds like you’re doing good. Did they think you are showing some or are you just concerned? I’ll be honest I never thought about it and I do not have congestive heart failure. FYI until the pacemaker I have felt so horrible. I couldn’t tell you if it was my a fib, heart failure, or whatever. they have ways of telling them apart. One of the major reasons my EP wanted me to get the pacemaker is because I was starting heart failure besides having no qol. My heart was just more than exhausted. It was giving up and mentally and physically, so was the rest of me. To do more than lay like a lump seemed impossible. You don’t want to get to get to that point. I had a very unusual situation going on with lack of medical care. Life is what it is. I did not have the strength to fight for myself at the time. And the way it should be and the way it is when it comes to some doctors can be very different. Please take care of yourself. It’s your body.

[Glenn50]

My GP thought I had heart failure 3 years ago as I got breathless when walking in the cold weather. Luckily he referred me to our hospital and after imaging and an echocardiogram and a couple of other minor tests it proved to be asthma worsened by the cold. If you are concerned see your GP.

My 96 year old mum has heart failure. Swollen feet, panting gasping breath, nocturnal peeing. Not nice but she has worn out her bits.

Ask your GP.

[DawnTX in reply to Glenn50]

oh yes, I forgot about the nocturnal bathroom trips. Not sure how I forgot those. Since the pacemaker asleep, almost through the night until about 5 AM. What a difference.

[Barb1]

I have mild heart failure with breathlessness and swollen ankles. Have to take the dreaded diuretics.

[CDreamer]

Heart failure is a very emotive word and I can quite understand that you may get stressed out about the fear of developing HF but I have had AF on and off for nearly 15 years now and never come close to having HF but have had a lot of breathlessness - caused by the AF and the meds I used to take for the AF.

So recap - causes of breathlessness - being in AF or for a period afterwards, meds such as Bisoprolol and other beta blockers, anxiety, infections and about 100 other things.

Being in HF does not mean you are going to die because your heart will stop. It is determined by your EF=ejection fraction which is number expressed as a percentage and measured by having an echocardiogram. Even that number is never 100% accurate as it is always an interpretation of the technician.

If you have had an echocardiogram and told that everything was structurally sound, then you don’t have HF. Heart ‘failure’ means that your heart is not pumping blood around your body effectively enough even when you are not in AF and usually indicates another issue - often treatable - other than lone AF. If you haven’t had an echocardiogram then ask your EP would that be advisable and tell them how worried you are about developing HF.

It really sounds as though you are over thinking things and catastrophising so talk to your therapist about which tools to use when this happens.

We live with uncertainties when we have AF and this can be the most difficult thing to accept and come to terms with - but we do continue to live and live well. Most of us have experienced anxiety to varying degrees with AF and have worried about the things you are worrying about right now and we came through so deep, slow focussed breaths.

Very best wishes CD.

[Hidden in reply to CDreamer]

Well said

[DawnTX in reply to CDreamer]

Very well said ❤️ The one really bad thing I find with a sieve is how easy it is to focus on it 24 seven if you let yourself. I have found that even with my heartbeat now with the pacemaker. I can still get palpitations, and it does not help flutter, I have a typical flutter. What I am working on now is ignoring it because it’s going to be there and it’s not that bad. It is only bad if I keep paying attention to it because I swear it seems to get worse but I think it’s in my head.

My EP did not make a big thing out of heart failure. It is not congestive, and the rest of my heart is structurally sound. That being said, and the fact that I was already getting a pacemaker and have it now gives me a good chance of stopping the heart failure, and even rebuilding the heart because of timing, it seems. Now that my heart is beating properly, and at a good pace, my heart is no longer straining itself and can get some rest. The difference even after just the first week of my circulation getting better is miraculous. I had numbness and pins and needles in my lower legs and feet as well as my arms and I had horrible pain even to the fingertips. It’s all gone. No it didn’t just go away overnight. It is a month, but oh what a difference. The things we take for granted. My thoughts are clearer and so is my vision. I was becoming concerned because I just had cataracts done three years ago and had perfect vision however, this past year, I feel that I was losing it again. We need to remember that with a fib. Our circulation is not as it should be. The heart decides where to send deoxygenated blood so just remember the place is it doesn’t send it will suffer a bit. The amazing part is now with circulation again I feel so much better physically, and mentally.

Tomorrow I see my EP again. It will be good to hear what he has to say, and I have questions on what is normal timing for certain things. I think I have expected too much too soon and I am going to ask him if that is the case. All I know is that this is the closest I have felt to normal since getting hit with a fib landing face down on the floor that night no promises for any of us. Let’s just be grateful when we get some good.

[Hidden]

Very interesting. I have swollen feet, night visits to the loo and a lot of breathlessness but no EP has ever said heart failure, just AF.

Di

[DawnTX in reply to Hidden]

I have not had the swollen feet, but I have lived in the bathroom at night since a fib you will find many of the symptoms of a fib, heart failure, and so many other things are pretty much the same. My a fib has made me feel as though I am having a heart attack 24 seven with crushing chest pain and so much more. It can certainly be concerning until you catch on that they lump symptoms just like side effects of medication together and they all sound the same.

[Bridges4]

I have been receiving treatment for heart failure (HF) for the last 3 years. It was diagnosed following tests which showed I have a low EF (ejection fraction). I have not been especially breathless. I assume you have seen your doctor as nobody on this site (even though they might have an HF diagnoses) can give you anything other than the benefit of their own history. My AF is intermittent -I go to bed to rest up when it gets bad but I have been advised that AF has not caused my HF.

I hope you manage to get the appropriate tests done in the near future.

[philologus]

Hello Euve,

I have HF. It is diagnosed by having a simple and painless scan that is able to tell what fraction of its contents your left ventricle is able to pump out.

HF is measured as being level 1,2,3 or 4 - the higher number is the worst level.

I was advised to weigh myself every day as soon as I got up and had been to the loo.

A sudden increase in weight means that I am retaining water too much and need to take a diuretic tablet.

Once treatment has been agreed (more ruddy tablets I'm afraid) you will be monitored regularly and will have access to specialist HF nurses (who are worth their weight in gold).

As others have said; it might not be HF as other things have similar symptoms so you really should see your GP for more precise advice and this will ease your anxiety a bit.

I hope you feel better soon.

Regards,

George

[Louis158]

I have level 3 heart failure is this real dangerous for me?

[CDreamer in reply to Louis158]

You may find that the HU Heart Failure forum is a more useful forum for you to ask this question.

Best wishes CD.

[MarinaT]

I have mild heart failure from the af. I get breathless and have swollen ankles. I am on Ferusomide.

[etheral]

The decrease in blood flow to the left ventricle secondary to the inefficient contractions of the atria in in Afib can push you over the line into CHF (Congestive Heart Failure). This will usually only happen if you have a preexisting heart problem and borderline Ejection fraction. This may be obvious on a physical exam, and definately diagnosed by an Echocardiogram or even a simple Chest xray. This happened in my case, and after reverting to NSR with Dofetilide the CHF resolved. My Ejection fraction went from 24% in afib to 38% in NSR. I also take Entresto and carvedilol ( a beta blocker). Before being converted I was on diuretics (Lasix) as well, but fortunately seem to have no need for them now. My situation has been stable for about 2 yrs now. Best of luck, See your cardiologist and find out if this is truly your problem. SOB can have many causes.

[sandoval22]

I'm opposite to most here in having had Heart failure for nearly 20 years but AF only 6 weeks. The AF knocked me out more than the HF in that I couldn't get to the top of the stairs without stopping with AF . I guess having HF since I was 43 gave my body/heart time to adjust and I use a treadmill 6 days a week (6.5 kph before AF and 5.5kph now) having been cardioverted only 2 weeks ago so I'm hoping AF doesn't come back but from what I've read it seems it usually does so ablation is probably not far away.

[DawnTX in reply to sandoval22]

I’m so happy to hear that your cardioversion is holding right now. Are you in a medication to keep you NSR? They were going to put me on Tikosyn but unfortunately my cardioversion failed so there was no need. Don’t worry about when it won’t continue instead. Enjoy every second of it working. I had one that lasted 2 1/2 weeks and I still smile about how good I felt. I was just diagnosed early HF but we were already discussing a pacemaker which I now have. I was fitted a month ago. My EP said that my heart and I were both exhausted and had had enough. That is why I have the pacemaker now and no regrets.

[DawnTX]

I was just diagnosed with early heart failure a month ago. Sorry to tell you, but it seems the symptoms are very much like everything else with the heart. You have the breathlessness and fatigue. I don’t know about you, but I had that anyway. The words heart failure did unnerve me a bit. I was just fitted with a pacemaker a month ago. It was during the talk about that with my EP that he told me about the heart failure. There is a possibility that the pacemaker may take care of that. I do not have congestive heart failure. They do differentiate the two. My heart is exhausted from more than a year of working much too hard and out of sync. My ventricles did not beat properly. Heart failure needs to be addressed ASAP because it doesn’t get better as a rule once it really takes off. My case shows you how quickly it can turn into that. I had been having numerous testing at Cetera and this was the first time it really showed. We need to remember about the heart muscle. it can only do so much extra before it gets worn down or out. I love my EP he has educated me in so many ways about my heart and body.