Is there any way to tell congestive heart failure ?

H OW CAN YOU TELL IF YOU HAVE CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE AND WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT IT AND IF UNTREATED WILL IT KILL YOU !

Technically congestive heart failure is a clinical diagnosis based symptoms. If you are worried you should see your MD as many diseases have similar symptoms. The common ones for CHF are shortness of breath especially with exertion or laying down, waking up short of breath at night time, swelling in the belly or legs.

There are different types of heart failure and different causes of heart failure. A search for the cause of heart failure should be done and proper treatment. Search for cause will include and echocardiogram and possibly a cardiac catheterization as well as blood work.

Untreated CHF leads to quicker mortality. Data collected shows that people are living longer with CHF with the treatments available.

The tell-tale sign is a low ejection fraction, typically measured by echocardiogram. There are many symptoms, but the diagnosis is based on EF.

All you ever wanted to know about congestive heart failure can be found at http://www.chfpatients.com. It's very well written, by a CHF patient (definitely not the medical establishment), so the language is generally very clear and easy to read for us laymen.

I also moderate the cardiomyopathy Yahoo! group, so feel free to stop by there if you have any questions.

CHF is serious and will get worse and eventually kill you if untreated.

To check for swelling ( a major symptom) press your finger firmly against your lower chin. If it leaves a depression, you have edema. Although there are other causes for the swelling, CHF is a major one.

Other symptoms are loss of breath during minor activity, wake up at night gasping for air, difficulty sleeping, bloating of abdomen, a hacking dry cough that goes on for long periods, blood in sputum, little urine production.... The link below to the American Heart Association has some information.

If you are having problems, please see a physician soonest. CHF will get worse and damage the heart further. You cannot go it alone.