Full recovery

[Norm75]

Hello, this may be a daft question, but can you fully recover from heart failure or is it something that you will have for life.

[Lezzers]

Hi, no questions are ever daft, it's all a learning curve & unless we ask questions we'll never learn.

Some people are able to recover from HF (heart failure) if the HF has been caused by a virus, but that recovery is a rarity

However with appropriate lifestyle changes, diet as agreed with your medical team & with the correct medication, you can go on to live a relatively normal life with a normal life span.

My husband was 57 when he was diagnosed with HF due to damage caused by a massive heart attack & cardiac arrest that he'd had 15 years previously. That damage can't be repaired unfortunately but he's 68 now so he has lived with HF for 11 years.

[Norm75 in reply to Lezzers]

It certainly is a learning curve, and thank goodness for sites like this one. Everyone has had their own experiences and with this comes knowledge.

No, it wasn't caused by a virus, we aren't sure really, possibly hereditary. Medication has certainly helped, we have our next scan next week which will let us know if the heart has repaired itself.

Everything is just so uncertain and we don't know what the future holds. It's as if we have a big black cloud constantly hanging over us. Thank you for your reply, it's really helpful. I'm glad to hear that your husband is able to lead a good life following his heart attack. Take care.

[Lezzers in reply to Norm75]

I don't know much about hereditary conditions but I can highly recommend the Pumping Marvelous charity as a great source of information. Also if you're on Facebook, the Pumping Marvelous foundation charity have a support group that is very friendly, supportive & informative, there may be members there who've may be able to advise/help. Good luck, I hope you get the answers you're looking for

pumpingmarvellous.org/

[Norm75]

Thank you that is really useful, I shall have a look at them, I have heard of them, always good to have some support.

[Qualipop]

My mum was diagnosed with heart failure in her 20s when she was pregnant with me. She had toxaemia ( eclampsia) which damaged her heart. Way back then in the 40s there was no treatment at all. She was just told to get on with life but she should never have a general anaesthetic. She had another pregnancy and had eclampsia again and lost he baby. Presumably that did more damage. In the 1990s she had a hip replacement by epidural and was told her heart then wasn't strong enough for a general but she still had no treatment for it. It never stopped her doing anything; she never mentioned it and her only symptom ever was getting a bit breathless on long, not steep inclines. She could do hills no problem and walked miles with her dogs. She also smoked woodbines all her life. She died at 69, 44 years later- still never having had any treatment.