Essay Example on Living with Heart Failure: Understanding & Managing the Condition

Introduction

Heart failure is a severe and lifelong condition which if managed well, a patient can live a normal life. The heart is responsible for the pumping of blood and nutrients that are rich in oxygen throughout individual bodies. With heart failure, the heart does not do its work as it should resulting in fluid building up in the body, especially in lungs and legs (White & Hill, 2014). It fails to meet the body's needs for oxygen and blood. Heart failure can be a diastolic failure where the heart cannot fill with the required blood because its muscles have trouble relaxing. Also, it can be a systolic failure where the heart muscle cannot pump blood with enough force to the whole body because it is too weak. The paper provides an educational handout for a heart failure patient. It presents the pathophysiology of heart failure, life changes that occur in the patient, blood pressure, self-monitoring weight, pulse, and when the patient can call a provider together with medications for management.

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Pathophysiology of Heart Failure

The main pathophysiology is a reduction in heart muscle efficiency through either overloading or damage because of various conditions. The conditions include hypertension, which increases the necessary force needed to pump blood from the heart the rest of the body, myocardial infarction, which is starvation of the heart muscle from oxygen, and amyloidosis heart muscle is stiffed by deposition of misfolded proteins (Ge et al., 2019). The condition causes a workload, which then changes the functioning of the heart. A heart of a patient suffering from heart failure is characterized by reduced contraction force as a result of an overloaded ventricle. Ventricle gets filled with blood excessively, reducing the efficiency of heart failure and failure of cardiac output.

Also, a failure in diastole, systole, or both causes reduction in stroke volume. Reduced contractility increases the end-systolic volume, while impaired ventricular filling causes a decrease in the end-diastolic volume. A patient suffering from heart failure mostly experience exercise intolerance during physical activity translating to a loss of cardiac reserve. Patients with heart failure also experience increased heart rate, which is mostly stimulated by an increase in sympathetic activity, which tries to maintain adequate cardiac output (Ge et al., 2019). The terminally differentiated heart muscle fibers cause an increase in the size of the muscular layer of heart in an attempt to enhance contractility. The larger physical size of the muscular layer decreases relaxation during diastole due to increased stiffness. The general changes are to increase un heart strain and reduced cardiac output.

Lifestyle Changes for Heart Failure

Various life changes are recommended for patients suffering from heart failure, as they will help them alleviate the symptoms of the disease. Some of the lifestyle variations are eating a heart-healthy diet, being physically active, monitoring blood pressure, keeping track of symptoms, managing stress, getting adequate rest, avoiding or limiting alcohol, maintaining or losing weight, tracking fluid intake, and quitting smoking.

Heart failure patients should eat a healthy diet that contains various vegetables and fruits, legumes and nuts, whole grains, non-tropical vegetable oils, and low-fat dairy products. Then the patient should talk to a personal doctor concerning starting an exercise program. Physical activity should be done at the same time daily as part of a lifestyle. Train in managing stress by doing yoga or meditation. Another lifestyle change is avoiding alcohol if the patient usually drinks and creating a plan to assist in quitting smoking. Also, the patient should monitor his or her weight and track of fluid intake.

Self-Monitoring Weight, Pulse, and Blood Pressure

A heart failure patient can monitor his or her blood pressure, weight, and pulse in a real-time automated fashion. The best way to monitor the fluid status is to through personal examination of weight daily (Bui & Fonarow, 2012). An increase in weight means excess fluid is being retained, which then needs to increase diuretic medication to get rid of the excess fluid in the patient's body. Self-monitoring of weight by the patient decreases the need for being hospitalized, which enhances the patient's quality of life and decreases the burden of heart failure.

When to Call a Provider

The best way to manage heart failure is by calling a provider or doctor at an appropriate time. The doctor is called when unusual symptoms are seen. Such symptoms include the unusual weight of two and above pounds are gained in a day or five and above in a week. Another symptom is swelling of ankles, abdomen, feet, or legs worsens. (Bui & Funarow, 2012). A patient also has to call a provider when nausea and loss of appetite are experienced with a faster heart rate of about 120 beats in one minute, especially during regular activities and worsening shortness of breath.

Medications for Management of Heart Failure

Heart failure patients need multiple medications, each treating different contributing factors and symptoms. The first medication is ACE Inhibitors are significant for managing heart failure. It lowers blood pressure and relaxes blood vessels. As a result, it enhances blood flow giving the heart the ability to pump blood. Some of them are Fosinopol, Captopril, Perindopril, Ramipril, Lisinopril, and Quinapril (White &Hill,2014).

The second medication is Beta Blockers, which enhances cardiac function and reduces morbidity. It protects cardiac from overstimulation by beta 1-adrenoceptor and reduces heart rate. It alleviates heart rhythms, especially irregular ones, and also reduces blood pressure. Some of them are Bisoprolol, Carvedilol, and Metoprolol. The third medication is Diuretics, which assist the kidney in eradicating unneeded salt and water making it easier for the heart to pump. It also eases swelling and reduces high blood pressure (White &Hill,2014). The commonly prescribed Diuretics are Indapamide, Furosemide, Metolazone, Bumetanide, Amiloride, and Torsemide.

References

Bui, A. L., & Fonarow, G. C. (2012). Home monitoring for heart failure management. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 59(2), 97-104. http://www.onlinejacc.org/content/59/2/97.abstract

Ge, Z., Li, A., McNamara, J., Dos Remedios, C., & Lal, S. (2019). Pathogenesis and pathophysiology of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction: translation to human studies. Heart failure reviews, 24(5), 743-758. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10741-019-09806-0

White, S. M., & Hill, A. (2014). A heart failure initiative to reduce the length of stay and readmission rates. Professional Case Management, 19(6), 276-284. https://journals.lww.com/professionalcasemanagementjournal/Fulltext/2014/11000/A_Heart_Failure_Initiative_to_Reduce_the_Length_of.6.aspx