I wish to ask those who have CHF & severe edema.?

Are your symptoms just like mine? I have such buildup of water pressure within my hips down to feet. that my nerves are painful in those areas and walking is slow & painful in the extreme. I can only hobble along the street. My lgs are rigid like wood & cannot flex at the knee from water swelling. My heart and lungs have much fluid in them, & some days i find myself struggling & gasping for a breath of air with great effort. CHF also gives me total insomnia. I cannot lie down normally in bed and sit upright all night , hopelessly awake & scared. Stom

the diuretics produce not one drop of urine to relieve the water in me. they fail.

so tell me, do you also find you cannot walk well, freely like before, as you used to go in and out ??? I am alone, uninsured, INELIGIBLE FOR any govt aid due to some bank savings, and want definite results to empty this edema, perhaps by ULTRAFILTRATION, AS an outpatient. I can easily curtail my liquid intake and salt, My symptoms typical?

Thanks for your thoughtful reply. I take ACE inhibitors, and was SHOCKED at how various diuretics do NOTHING to induce strong urination in my body. The Lasix & others are not invincible panaceas. but free clinics reject anyone with bank savings, sadly. I suffer much. These days I am despondent from pain. So then this disease will be my torment until the death. Some MDs want me to enter hosptial, and receive IV LASIX in massive doses. That scares me as I fear for my kidneys. And I cannot do that all my life, either. I tell you, I crave death as preferable to the suffering I daily endure.

You show classic signs of chf (if Congestive Heart Failure is what you mean by chf), especially the shortness of breath and fluid build up in your legs and ankles. Edema in the said areas is enough to cause rigidity due to lack of muscle movement. Your insomnia may have been a by-product of the disease itself, since psychological parts of any disease is always involved with patients.

The usual treatment for this disease includes diuretics, rest, ace inhibitors, and others that may be prescribed by a physician. Of course, treatment depends on the nature of chf, as some may be congenital in origin or because of an infection.

The diuretics did not work probably because the formulation was not right or perhaps your body does not respond well to the diuretic itself; maybe a different one might do, including other medications to help the diuretic medication. Try going to free clinics to get another diagnosis and medication prescriptions if you cannot go to a hospital.

Hope this helps.

I have pph, and have to take the Lasix, which if I didn't my feet swell up to my knees sometimes... but i take 40mg /daily and am fine with that...crossing my fingers... haven't used a salt shaker since May, and I miss it sometimes...
Pay what it costs for the Lasix, I have to pay 6.00 for the prescription, and it can't be too much to pay out of pocket...