Are There Any Limitations With a Pacemaker?
You’re getting a pacemaker to regulate the rhythm of your heart, and you want to know whether you need to make any changes to accommodate the new addition. There are a few, which we review here.
Breaking Down the 4 Stages of Congestive Heart Failure
As of right now, between 6 and 7 million people in the United States have heart failure, a condition in which your heart struggles to pump blood. That number is expected to rise considerably in the future, to more than 11 million by 2050.
Not only is heart failure prevalent — one out of four people will develop the condition — but the disease is progressive, which makes early detection and management key.
With that in mind, the team of heart health experts at Advanced Cardiovascular Specialists is taking a deeper dive into congestive heart failure, with a focus on the progressive stages of the disease. The reason why we’re reviewing these stages is because the earlier we can recognize the issue and intervene, the better we can slow your heart disease.
Heart failure basics
Let’s first quickly review what we mean when we refer to heart failure. As the name suggests, this is a condition in which your heart isn’t pumping blood efficiently. As a result, your body isn’t getting the oxygen and resources it needs for optimal function.
This is a simplistic explanation, and we’ll get into more detail as we review the stages or classes of heart failure.
The four stages of heart failure
Now let’s get into the main topic here, which is the progression of the four stages of heart failure. As you’ll see, addressing the issue in the earlier stages can truly change the course of the disease, so it’s well worth reviewing.
1. Stage A heart failure
With this first stage, your risk factors for heart failure are elevated, but you aren’t yet diagnosed or feeling symptoms. Some of the risk factors include:
- Hypertension
- An arrhythmia
- Coronary artery disease
- Diabetes
- Obesity
- Family history
If we know that your risks are higher than they should be, we can work toward reversing a heart failure diagnosis in stage A.
2. Stage B heart failure
During this next stage, you may start to experience symptoms, such as fatigue and shortness of breath while exercising or moving, and there’s evidence of structural heart disease.
3. Stage C heart failure
This third stage is when the heart failure really takes hold, and you develop symptoms that increase with physical activity. These symptoms include:
- Shortness of breath
- Fatigue
- Heart palpitations
- Chest pain
These symptoms tend to subside when you’re at rest.
4. Stage D heart failure
This is the most advanced stage of the disease, and the symptoms that we covered above become more constant. Any physical activity can become uncomfortable, and you might also experience edema, which occurs when fluids (blood) aren’t circulating well, so they build up in your tissues. Heart failure-related edema tends to strike the lower limbs and abdomen.
As you can see by these stages, taking action during the first two can deliver incredible benefits, and we can halt or slow the progression of heart failure. If the disease advances to stages C or D, there’s still much we can do to improve the function of your heart through medications and lifestyle changes.
If you’d like to stay one step ahead of heart failure, we’re here to help. For a comprehensive evaluation of your heart, please contact our office in Mountain View, California, to schedule a consultation with one of our heart health experts.
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