Signs & Symptoms of Chronic Congestive Heart Failure

Chronic congestive heart failure slowly develops over time because high blood pressure or coronary artery disease weakens the heart so it becomes unable to efficiently pump enough blood throughout your body. This affects the other organs in your body and produces a variety of symptoms. Lifestyle changes and medications can help you manage these symptoms.

Symptoms

• Symptoms of chronic congestive heart failure include shortness of breath, irregular heart rhythm, rapid heartbeat, wheezing, coughing, expectorating white or blood-tinged mucous, swelling in the lower extremities, sudden water weight gain, swelling of the abdomen, loss of appetite, nausea, trouble concentrating, fatigue and brain fog. Other symptoms are decreased urine output, a need to get up at night to urinate, feeling faint, trouble sleeping and a pounding heartbeat. Congestive heart failure symptoms are usually worse upon exertion because the heart is unable to keep up with the demand for increased blood flow.

Signs

• Your doctor may find these signs of chronic congestive heart failure upon a physical examination: abnormal heart sounds, abnormal lung sounds, swollen legs, swollen liver and prominent neck veins. He may order the following tests, which will show heart or lung abnormalities that indicate congestive heart failure: ECG, CT scan of the heart, chest X-ray, echocardiogram, heart catheterization or heart MRI. The X-ray could show fluid around your lungs and an enlarged heart. An echocardiogram is a significant test that measures the ejection fraction of your heart. The test uses sound waves to create an image of your heart as it is beating so your doctor can measure the amount of blood pumped with each beat. This is the ejection fraction, and its value lets your doctor classify the stage of your heart failure.

Other Signs

• Congestive heart failure can also cause blood and urine tests to be abnormal. According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, the following tests could be altered by congestive heart failure: urinalysis, liver function tests, blood urea nitrogen (BUN) test, creatinine, blood count, blood chemistry, sodium and uric acid. The Mayo Clinic says a blood test that checks for brain natriuretic peptide can be used to help diagnose heart failure.

Complications

• If congestive heart failure is not properly treated, the symptoms can seriously affect your life. Because blood flow is restricted to other major organs, heart failure can have potentially severe complications like kidney damage, liver damage, stroke or sudden death.