# What is heart failure?

**URL:** <https://howtodiscuss.com/t/what-is-heart-failure/22130>\
**Category:** Health\
**Created:** [October 1, 2020, 6:41am UTC](https://howtodiscuss.com/t/what-is-heart-failure/22130 "2020-10-01T06:41:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 6

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Danial512](https://howtodiscuss.com/user_avatar/howtodiscuss.com/danial512/32/4103_2.png) [@Danial512](https://howtodiscuss.com/u/Danial512)\
**Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 11:01am UTC](https://howtodiscuss.com/t/what-is-heart-failure/22130/6 "2020-10-31T11:01:29Z")

</div>

**What is heart failure?**  
Heart failure is a condition in which heart is unable to pump excessive blood to fulfil body need. It is due to hypertension, diabetes and obesity.

## Types of heart failure

There are two types of heart failure

1. Systolic heart failure  
It is a condition in which heart is unable to contract properly due to weakness of myocardial muscles. In this condition release of blood in the body is low.
2. Diastolic heart failure  
It is a condition in which heart is unable to relax properly and heart chambers are not fill with adequate supply of water.

## causes of heart failure

1. Atherosclerosis  
It is a coronary artery disease which results in the break down of inner lining of arteries, walls of the arteries becomes thick. Over time arteries becomes narrow and follow of blood is disturbed which causes heart attack.

2. Obesity  
Obesity is the mother of all diseases. It also causes heart failure. Obese people have excessive fats in their body which deposit in the veins and causes reduction in blood supply and result in heart failure.

3. Depression  
Depression enhance the risk of heart failure in the people who are already suffering from heart problems. Those who have no heart problems may be the victims of it due to stress and hypertension.

## Stages of Heart Failure

There are four stages in heart failure:

- Stage A is known as pre- heart failure. It is due to hypertension, diabetes, and alcohol addiction. The main cause of stage A heart failure is family history of heart failure

- Stage B is also known as pre- heart failure.It is due to left systolic ventricular disfunction with echo-diagram fraction of 40-45% or less.

- Stage C is heart failure stage with proper symptoms like Difficult breathing, physical weakness and fatigue.

- Stage D is chronic stage of the heart failure with no proper treatment. Patient with stage D heart failure is at the bed of death. The only solution in this stage is Heart transplant and heart surgery.

## Signs of Heart failure

- Excessive weight gain

- Swelling in the feet and ankles

- Pain in abdomen

- Trouble in breathing lying flat

- difficulty concentrating

- Irregular heart beat

- Dizziness

- Loss of appetite and Dry cough

## Risk factors of Heart Failure

There are certain reasons or factors that develops heart failure

- Anemia

- Smoking

- Emphysema

- Eating fatty food

- Being over weight

- Hyperthyroidism

## Preventive measures

- First preventive measure is to avoid the risk factors that are mentioned above.

- It can be cured by changing lifestyle habits, eating healthy diet.

- Certain medicines are available in the market to prevent heart-failure. In this case you have to consult a specialist.

- Pre-Heart failure can be prevented by heart therapies.

## Conclusion

Hence heart failure does not mean your heart is no more. It can work even though it is not well. Many risk factors can contribute to increase the risk of heart failure. In case of high risk heart failure heart transplant is the only option.

---

_[View the full topic](https://howtodiscuss.com/t/what-is-heart-failure/22130)._