Heart failure and cough

[shwills]

Hello

Does anyone know a remedy to help the cough you can get with HF

I have developed this when lying down and don’t know if anything to help does anyone get this and any helpful remedies?

Thank you

[Pilgrim1956]

If your on ramipril it's a common side effect

[Lezzers]

If its a cough due to HF then you need to be sleeping more upright, with a minimum of 2 firm pillows. If this is a new symptom you need to tell you your heart nurse/gp/cardiologist, they may want to up your diuretics, or you may have a chest infection, though you'd normally be coughing during the day as well

[shwills]

I am only on beta blockers at present GP won’t put me on any other meds until he gets the echo done and confirms the diagnosis

I am stuck feeling like this heart all over the place sometimes along with the abdominal discomfort and night cough

I have gone up to 2 pillows now but anxious most nights even though I am exhausted

[Lezzers in reply to shwills]

I would do as happyjo has suggested and ring the BHF nurses for advice, meanwhile maybe another pillow will help. The more you're propped up the better for the cough.

[Modeller3]

Have you tried lying with 4 pillows that what o was told to do and has help my cough.Also have you checked it's not ashma

[IanMK]

One of my first symptoms when I developed HF was a persistent cough but I didn’t realise it’s significance. Eventually my breathing rattled or crackled and a chest x-ray showed fluid on my lungs. A diuretic dealt with this although another medication that I was prescribed was ramipril which also has a common side effect of a cough. Eventually, though, my body seems to acclimatise to the ramipril and I don’t cough any more.

[Prada47]

Hello

My Heart Nurse explained the cough to me using a 1/2 full bottle of water. She held it upright then turned it on its side, as the water then covered all the base of the bottle up to the neck. She said that's what happens when you lie down, if your holding any fluid in your stomach it goes to your chest, causing the coughing reaction Just a possible cause !! which all the advice regarding pillows should help a great deal.

regards

[FeetheBookworm]

Try using 4 pillows - that’s what I needed prior to diagnosis - I also had breathing issues and sounded like a frog! We were away on holiday (Caribbean) and got an emergency app at doctors when we got home. Sent to A&E forthwith where they put me on 2 diuretics and had to pee into a jug for them to measure. A stone in fluid came off in 3 days. Was initially on 2 fluid tablets until I started getting dizzy spells (about 6 wks later) and feeling faint, been on 1 diuretic ever since.

Back to the pillows I arranged them with 1 as normal 2 in a v shape to support shoulders and top one as normal. Sometimes 3 is enough.

Fiona