“Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I have done it a thousand times.”

Mark Twain

Through an accurate reference the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who wants to save lives and protect people, support the following:

Smoking is estimated to increase the risk—

• For coronary heart disease by 2 to 4 times^1,6
• For stroke by 2 to 4 times¹
• Of men developing lung cancer by 25 times¹
• Of women developing lung cancer by 25.7 times¹

Smoking causes diminished overall heath, such as self-reported poor health, increased absenteeism from work, and increased health care utilization and cost.

Smokers are at greater risk for diseases that affect the engine of the body=The heart and its branches=The circulatory system (putting a smoker at high risk for cardiovascular disease).

• Smoking causes stroke and coronary heart disease—the leading causes of death in the United States.
• Even people who smoke fewer than five cigarettes a day can have early signs of cardiovascular disease.
• Smoking damages blood vessels and can make them thicken and grow narrower. This makes your heart beat faster and your blood pressure go up. Clots can also form.
• A heart attack occurs when a clot blocks the blood flow to your heart. When this happens, your heart cannot get enough oxygen causing starvation of food, being oxygen to the heart tissue. This damages the heart muscle, and part of the heart muscle can die, which is what exactly happens with a heart attack where angina (lack of 02 is reversible).
• A stroke occurs when a clot blocks the blood flow to part of your brain or when a blood vessel in or around your brain bursts causing again starvation of food, being 02, just in a different tissue part. Get it oxygen is the food to all our tissues of the body
• Blockages caused by smoking can also reduce blood flow to your skin and legs (For example Peripheral Vascular Disease= PVD). Ever see the commercial with a person telling you to stop smoking with fingers surgically removed or limbs, PVD is what occurred to that individual and the person didn’t stop smoking. Due to this behavior what happened the vessels of the individual’s limbs became so narrowed that it cut off oxygenated blood supply to those tissue parts causing ischemia-lack of oxygen, which led to necrosis of the tissue (death) and the part had to be surgi-cally removed. Now that individual can’t walk or grasp things with those limbs that were operated on. Is smoking worth this consequence? I don’t think so, what about you? Just think about it if you still smoke.Smoking can cause lung disease by damaging your airways and the small air sacs (alveoli) found in your lungs. What actually happens to the lung tissue is the pin point openings (alveoli) keeps expanding to a wider opening. The alveoli is responsible of oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange when we inhale and exhale but with the alveoli stretched the exchange of the gases gets poor.
• Smoking effects the transmission of the body=The Lungs

• Lung diseases caused by smoking include COPD, which includes emphysema (especially) and chronic bronchitis.
• Cigarette smoking causes most cases of lung cancer.
• If you have asthma, tobacco smoke can trigger an attack or make an attack worse.^1,2
• Smokers are 12 to 13 times more likely to die from COPD than nonsmokers.

Smoking can cause cancer in almost every area of the body. If nobody smoked, one of every three cancer deaths in the United States would not happen. Smoking increases risk of dying from cancer and other diseases in cancer patients and survivors.

For those who quit smoking what risks you reduce:

• Quitting smoking cuts cardiovascular risks. Just 1 year after quitting smoking, your risk for a heart attack drops sharply.²
• Within 2 to 5 years after quitting smoking, your risk for stroke could fall to about the same as a nonsmoker’s.²
• If you quit smoking, your risks for cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, and bladder drop by half within 5 years.²
• Ten years after you quit smoking, your risk for lung cancer drops by half.

Again, if you smoke you may want to consider stopping; give it a thought.

“Smoking is hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, and dangerous to the lungs.”

King James I

Now knowing from part 1 of this article you’ll understand why smoking alone can cause the following conditions, Through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They state the following:

Smoking and Increased Health Risks

Compared with nonsmokers, smoking is estimated to increase the risk of—

• Coronary heart disease by 2 to 4 times, ^(causing atherosclerosis=thickening of the vessels or due to arteriosclerosis=hardening of the arteries and remember smoking causes vasoconstriction of the vessels = increase pressure in the vessels = high B/P.
• Stroke by 2 to 4 times (Due to causing the above problems listed under coronary heart disease.)
• Men developing lung cancer by 23 times,
• Women developing lung cancer by 13 times(cancers due to constant irritation of the tissues) , and
• Dying from chronic obstructive lung diseases (such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema) by 12 to 13 times. ( Explained at the top)

Smoking and Cardiovascular Disease

• Smoking causes coronary heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States.
• Cigarette smoking causes reduced circulation by narrowing the blood vessels (arteries) and puts smokers at risk of developing peripheral vascular disease (i.e., obstruction of the large arteries in the arms and legs that can cause a range of problems from pain to tissue loss or gangrene) This pain to gangrene to amputation is due to lack of oxygenated blood getting to the tissue caused by the vasoconstriction the cigarette smoking caused.
• Smoking causes abdominal aortic aneurysm (i.e., a swelling or weakening of the main artery of the body—the aorta—where it runs through the abdomen). An aneurysm with constant vasoconstriction (increases pressure) puts the aneurysm at risk for rupture because the aneurysm area isn’t as strong as the other vessels=Rupture of the aortic aneurysm

Smoking and Respiratory Disease

• Smoking causes lung cancer.
• Smoking causes lung diseases (e.g., emphysema, bronchitis, chronic airway obstruction) by damaging the airways and alveoli (i.e., small air sacs) of the lungs.

Smoking and Cancer

Smoking causes the following cancers: (in alphabetical order)

• Acute myeloid leukemia
• Bladder cancer
• Cancer of the cervix
• Cancer of the esophagus
• Kidney cancer
• Cancer of the larynx (voice box)
• Lung cancer
• Cancer of the oral cavity (mouth)
• Pancreatic cancer
• Cancer of the pharynx (throat)
• Stomach cancer

Smoking and Other Health Effects

Smoking has many adverse reproductive and early childhood effects, including increased risk for—

• Infertility
• Preterm delivery
• Stillbirth
• Low birth weight
• Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).^1,2,9Smoking is associated with the following adverse health effects:¹

• Postmenopausal women who smoke have lower bone density than women who never smoked.
• Women who smoke have an increased risk for hip fracture than women who never smoked.

Get it now?   Please say yes. Smoking rots for your body not just in the lungs but everywhere. How do you make a complete turn-around? Look at your health in regards to what your goal is out of life. Do you want to live longer and most importantly HEALTHIER? When healthier in mind and body you are able to do more with your life in activities of daily living and more than that, so QUIT. If you want to sit most of your life with continuing to smoke but if not you must stop smoking now unless you have a unusual discipline in your way of living that allows you to have a about 6 cigarettes to 1 pack a YEAR, not daily. It is recommended you stop completely but if it actually has to be a part of your life than do it in moderation or less.  If you’re able to do that your definitely not addicted to the bad habit physically, if anything addicted to it mentally. That would still make your life healthier as to smoking frequently every day. Know you take the risk of increasing your quantity in time so I recommend Quit.

Various lifestyle factors have been associated with increasing the risk of stroke. These include lack of exercise, alcohol, diet, obesity, smoking, drug use, and stress. Guidelines endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health recommend that Americans should exercise for at least 30 minutes of moderately intense physical activity on most, and preferably all, days of the week. Recent epidemiologic studies have shown a U-shaped curve for alcohol consumption and coronary heart disease mortality, with low-to-moderate alcohol consumption associated with lower overall mortality. High daily dietary intake of fat is associated with obesity and may act as an independent risk factor or may affect other stroke risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and cardiac disease. Homocysteine is another important dietary component associated with stroke risk, while other dietary stroke risk factors are thought to be mediated through the daily intake of several vitamins and antioxidants. Smoking, especially current smoking, is a crucial and extremely modifiable independent determinant of stroke. Despite the obstacles to the modification of lifestyle factors, health professionals should be encouraged to continue to identify such factors and help improve our ability to prevent stroke, decrease cancers caused by smoking, decrease coronary artery disease, and obesity.   Learn healthy habits or healthier habits, broaden your knowledge on the 4 food groups in what is lean or leaner or leanest with each group, increase your activity 30 minutes a day and learn what a healthy diet actually is through Dr. Wayne Scott Anderson’s book “Dr. A’s habits of health” and even if you need to lose weight we can show you the way to do it healthy. It’s not a diet for 3 months or even 6 to a year but it is learning how to get to your body mass index in the ideal weight range for your height and you decide how low you want to go. We can show you through the book and those having more difficulty can buy our foods for 6 months or even a year or in my case I started almost a year ago and I use both their healthy foods as well as healthy foods from the store. You decide the choices, no one else. If you are interested go to my website healthyusa.tsfl.com and peek at what we offer for no prescription, no charge, no donation and no hacking. If you like what you see join me and so many others trying to get America healthier and in time decrease our population in diseases or illnesses primarily impacted by health habits, diet, and weight. Wouldn’t you and the future want to get better in mind and body to impact our health care system that includes our insurance and most importantly lives of citizens in the USA in how they live (which would be more active). It is your choice and I hope you decide to come aboard to my website healthyusa.tsfl.com and I know if I could do it so can too. It just takes discipline and the drive to want to stay healthy or get in a better state of heath. Hope I have helped someone out there in broadening your knowledge regarding how to keep or reach a healthier life.

References For both Part 1 and Part 2:

1. S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2004 [accessed 2013 June 28].
2. S. Department of Health and Human Services. How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease: What It Means to You. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2010 [accessed 2013 June 28].
3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Annual Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Years of Potential Life Lost, and Productivity Losses—United States, 2000–2004. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 2008;57(45):1226–8 [accessed 2013 June 28].
4. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. QuickStats: Number of Deaths from 10 Leading Causes–National Vital Statistics System, United States, 2010. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 2013:62(08);155. [accessed 2013 June 28].
5. Mokdad AH, Marks JS, Stroup DF, Gerberding JL. Actual Causes of Death in the United States. JAMA: Journal of the American Medical Association 2004;291(10):1238–45 [cited 2013 June 28].
6. S. Department of Health and Human Services. Reducing the Health Consequences of Smoking: 25 Years of Progress. A Report of the Surgeon General. Rockville (MD): U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 1989 [accessed 2013 June 28].
7. Ockene IS, Miller NH. Cigarette Smoking, Cardiovascular Disease, and Stroke: A Statement for Healthcare Professionals from the American Heart Association. Circulation 1997;96(9):3243–7 [accessed 2013 June 28].
8. Institute of Medicine. Secondhand Smoke Exposure and Cardiovascular Effects: Making Sense of the Evidence. [PDF–707 KB] Washington: National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine, 2009 [accessed 2013 June 28].
9. S. Department of Health and Human Services. Women and Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General. Rockville (MD): U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Office of the Surgeon General, 2001 [accessed 2013 June 28].

Let’s start with what smoking actually does to the body. Smoking harms nearly every organ of the body. Smoking causes many diseases and reduces the health of smokers in general. It primarily starts at the lungs. How?   Well think of your lung tissue with openings all over which are air sacs called alveoli. This is an anatomical structure that has the form of a hollow cavity which does the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide in and out of our body, when we inhale and exhale. The thing to know about this tissue is that before you start smoking the alveoli are expandable (think of it like a rubber band) allowing the person to get a good exchange of oxygen getting in the body to go to all our tissues and carbon dioxide getting out of the body (O2=oxygen being the fuel to our tissues and without it causes cellular starvation, carbon dioxide=CO2 being an acid / toxin to the human body and exhaled by the lungs).   After years of smoking the alveoli stretches out not allowing a good exchange of O2 and CO2. The sad thing for a smoker is the alveoli CANNOT REVERSE back after damage has already occurred unless you had a lung transplant with continuing to smoke, which no M.D. or health insurance would allow. More realistic would be QUIT the bad habit. The tissue doesn’t get completely better but it improves when you quit. So the pt with Emphysema has alveoli that can’t exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide from the blood like it use to at the bottom of the lungs, prior to even starting to smoke. Also, after smoking years and when diagnosed with COPD you have difficulty breathing (that is why smoking is a major cause of bronchitis or Emphysema=types of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease=COPD and it is not REVERSIBLE). Emphysema is the worst type of COPD you can get. COPD is the third leading cause of death in the U.S., and the economic burden of COPD in the U.S. in 2007 was $42.6 billion in health care costs and lost productivity. Isn’t this reason enough to stop smoking?

Emphysema is an enlargement of the air spaces distal to the terminal bronchioles, with destruction of their walls. People with emphysema have historically been known as “Pink Puffers”, due to their pink complexion.

Chronic bronchitis is defined in clinical terms as a cough with sputum production on most days for 3 months of a year, for 2 consecutive years. People with advanced COPD that have primarily chronic bronchitis were commonly referred to as “Blue Bloaters” because of the bluish color of the skin and lips (cyanosis) along with hypoxia and fluid retention.

Know when the lungs get affected in time the heart gets affected. One affects the other in time. The heart can’t live without the lungs and vice versa.

Now knowing just this you’ll understand why smoking alone can cause the so many unhealthy conditions which will be discussed in Part 2 tomorrow.  Have a great day readers!

“Erectile dysfunction (ED) is common in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). ED reduces quality of life, and it may affect compliance, thereby impairing the success of CHF treatment. ”

American Heart Association

Treatments for CHF:

Heart failure caused by an excessive workload is curable by treating the primary disease, such as anemia or thyrotoxicosis or hypertension or diabetes.  Also, curable are forms caused by anatomical problems such as a heart valve defect.  These defects can be surgically corrected.

However, for the common forms of heart failure due to damaged heart muscle no known cure (like a heart attack that damages the heart muscle where the attack took place on the organ) but prevention of it happening again can take place in many cases through treatment of the disease or illness with being compliant in following up with your doctor for the disease or illness and being compliant in following doctor’s orders.   The worst thing you can do is ignore them.  The treatment seeks to improve patients quality of life and length of survival through lifestyle change and drug therapy.

Patients can minimize the effect of heart failure by controlling the risk factors for heart disease they may have.  Obvious steps include:  Don’t smoke or quit smoking, lose weight if necessary, abstaining from alcohol, making those dietary changes to reduce the amount of salt and fat consumed.  Also, regular with modest exercise is also helpful for many patients; though the amount and intensity should be carefully monitored by a physician.

Even with lifestyle changes, most heart failure patients must take medication.  Many patients receive 2 or more meds.  Types of common medications given are:  ACE inhibitors, Digitalis, Diuretics, Hydralazine, and Nitrates.

These are some of the meds given for heart failure.   Not all medications are suitable for patients, and more than one drug may be needed.  Always review the list your pharmacist provides in the action, side effects, with instructions of how to take the drug to make it most effective in your body with what to look for while on this medication to keep you the patient most informed on what you should be aware of since your on the medication.  You should know what your taking.

Results of studies over the years have placed more emphasis on the use of drugs known as angiotensin converting enzymes (ACE) inhibitors.  Several studies have indicated that ACE inhibitors improve survival among heart failure patients and may slow perhaps even prevent the loss of the heart pumping activity.  This drug  prevents the transfer of your enzyme Angiotensin 1 to convert into Angiotensin 2 which prevents the vessels in your body to do vasoconstriction which prevents the pressure in the bloodstream to raise = high B/P (hypertension) but this medication prevents this from happening.  By the medication doing this it prevents stress to the heart; with vasoconstriction in causing the B/P to go high this now causes the  blood to get to the heart slowly and more difficult causing the heart to pump harder but the ACE inhibitor with allowing vasodilation (opening of vessels) keeps the pressure down to make the job easier= less stress on the heart.  Originally these medications where for patients in the treatment of hypertension but they help patients with heart failure, among other things, decreasing the pressure inside the blood vessels causing the heart to do its job easier.

Digitalis increases the force of the heart’s contractions, helping to improve circulation in the body.

Diuretics are for reducing the amount of fluid in the bloodstream and body by releasing them via the kidneys and having us void the excess of water out in our urine, these are useful for patients with fluid retention.

Those who aren’t prescribed or cannot take these meds already mentioned may be given a hydralazine medication and/or a drug in the Nitrate classification, each of which help relax tension in the blood vessels to improve blood flow.  Also, both Hydralazine and Nitrates function is they cause vasodilation in the vessels improving blood flow to the heart.

Sometimes heart failure is life threatening.  Usually, this happens when drug therapy and lifestyle changes fail to control its symptoms. In such cases, a heart transplant may be the only treatment option. However, candidates for transplantation often have to wait months or even years before a suitable donor heart is found.

Studies over the years indicate that some transplant candidates improve during this waiting period through drug treatment and other therapy, and can be removed from the transplant list.

Transplant candidates who do not improve sometimes need mechanical pumps, which are attached to the heart.  Called left ventricular assist device (LVADs), the machine takes over part or virtually all of the heart’s blood-pumping activity.  However, current LVADs are not permanent solutions for heart failure but are considered bridges to transplantation. Worldwide, about 3,500 heart transplants were performed annually. The vast majority of these are performed in the United States (2,000-2,300 annually). Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California has performed the most heart transplants in the last three consecutive years performing 95 transplants in 2012 alone. About 800,000 people have a Class IV heart defect indicating a new organ.  The degrees of CHF are I, II, III and IV.  In learning more about CHF with heart transplants (including becoming a candidate for one) go to wwwtransplantexperience.com or even hearttransplant.com.

Another surgical procedure for heart failure that is available in America is cardiomyoplasty.  This is a surgical procedure in which healthy muscle from another part of the body is wrapped around the heart to provide support for the failing heart.  A special pacemaker is implanted to make the skeletal muscle contract.  The electrical stimulator causes the back muscle to contract, pumping the blood from the heart (this allows the heart to do its job more effectively).

Complications of CHF:

Through the Mayo clinic as a reference regarding complications their website stated: “If you have heart failure, your outlook depends on the cause and the severity, your overall health, and other factors such as your age. Complications can include:

• Kidney damage or failure. Heart failure can reduce the blood flow to your kidneys, which can eventually cause kidney failure if left untreated. Kidney damage from heart failure can require dialysis for treatment.
• Heart valve problems. The valves of your heart, which keep blood flowing in the proper direction through your heart, may not function properly if your heart is enlarged, or if the pressure in your heart is very high due to heart failure.
• Liver damage. Heart failure can lead to a buildup of fluid that puts too much pressure on the liver. This fluid backup can lead to scarring, which makes it more difficult for your liver to function properly.
• Stroke. Because blood flow through the heart is slower in heart failure than in a normal heart, it’s more likely you’ll develop blood clots, which can increase your risk of having a stroke.Tips on CHF:Closely follow your doctor’s instructions, being compliant with the instructions and taking your meds.Control your weight in making it easier for your heart, that’s in failure, to function better (less stress).Limit or stop alcohol consumption as your doctor informs you.The best defense against heart failure is PREVENTION!  Almost all the cardiac risk factors can be controlled by eliminating the bad unhealthy habits (smoking, obese, high cholesterol, high B/P, diabetes).If you are needing any guidance in how to lose weight through using all 4 food groups, with assistance in what to eat now to lose weight till you are in therapeutic range for your height rather than eating food from the market or if you need to understand how the body works with food and metabolism with where activity comes into play go to healthyusa.tsfl.com.  See what we can provide you in answering all these questions for you through Dr. Anderson and myself as your coach free.  SO LIVE AS HEALTHY AS POSSIBLE IN YOUR ROUTINE HABITS,  YOUR DIETING OF THE 4 FOOD GROUPS, MAINTAINING YOUR WEIGHT IN A THEREPEUTIC RANGE (look as calculating BMI online for free to find out what your weight range for your height is), and BALANCING REST WITH EXERCISE TO HELP DECREASE THE CHANCE OF GETTING HEART FAILURE.  Go to healthyusa.tsfl.com to learn what Dr. Anderson through his book of “Dr. A.’s Healthy Habits” and me (for free) as your health coach could provide you with.  Just take a view of what can be offered to you for no price with no hacking go to healthyusa.tsfl.com and take a peek;)  Join me like many who are trying to live life healthier with making America a healthier home and we all should take part to help the health care system to be more effective for our society.  Recommended to anyone with disease before changing your diet, activity/exercise program review your changes with your doctor to get clearance first to maintain your safety.
• We can fulfill this goal, the one step America is by getting healthier (through diet, exercise, and living healthier habits) which would impact cardiac disease by decreasing it in time which would decrease congestive heart failure. Learn more about CHF on striveforgoodhealth.com with learning how to reach this goal. Let us the people of America take part on decreasing disease and not just leave it the health care or government’s hands. Look at the results already and we the society need to take be responsible in being better for ourselves, our children and our future generations.
• Going to the doctor can be stressful but know he is there for you.  It is hard to remember everything you want to ask the doctor with everything you hear at your visit.  It helps to prepare a list of questions you may have and bring it with you at your appointment to address to the concerns you listed to the doctor.  In doing this it helps you with your appointment so you can record the answers by listing them on the paper you have.  Before you leave the doctor’s office, be sure you understand your condition, its treatment, including any medications your taking this doctor that he or sheprescribed for you with that doctor knowing any other medications you may be on through a different doctor to prevent side effects or adverse reactions occurring but if you forget this about the medications there is always your pharmacist you can ask, than your personal M.D. later.  With you knowing all this information you will see why it is so vital for you doing all these actions or interventions for your disease that your doctor prescribed or ordered and you’re more out to follow them as well with understanding the whole picture about the treatment for CHF.
• Of course, stop smoking permanently if actively smoking.
• Watch what you eat and how much.  Watch the diet intake of cholesterol and sodium that can cause a negative impact on the heart by causing stress to the organ through either high B/P=high sodium intake that causes vasoconstriction or high cholesterol intake frequently that commonly causes blockage in an artery.  Both high sodium or high cholesterol cause diminishing of oxygenated blood getting to the heart.  Without oxygen to our tissues or cells this causes tissue & cellular starvation (ischemia).  What is starvation to the heart=ischemia to the heart=chest pain (what we call angina).  Take a brittle diabetic, the furthest area from the heart is the feet the first area to experience starvation is the toes, foot or lower extremity which is why this is usually the first to be amputated if necessary (you usually see an upper extremity amputated due to trauma not disease).
• Immediately call your doctor of any significant change in your condition, such as an intensified shortness of breath or swollen feet or weight gain of 3lbs or more within one week.
• See your doctor regularly in evaluating your CHF.
• Some people’s symptoms and heart function will improve with proper treatment. However, heart failure can be life-threatening. People with heart failure may have severe symptoms, and some may require heart transplantation or support with an artificial heart device.

“In addition to relieving patient suffering, research is needed to help reduce the enormous economic and social burdens posed by chronic diseases such as osteoporosis, arthritis, diabetes, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, cancer, heart disease, and stroke.”

Ike Skelton (born December 20, 1931) is an American politician who was the U.S. Representative for Missouri’s 4th congressional district from 1977 to 2011).

A number of symptoms are associated with heart failure, but none is specific for the condition. Perhaps the best known symptom is short of breath (called dyspnea). In heart failure, this may result from excess fluid in the lungs. The breathing difficulties may occur at rest or during exercise. In some cases, congestion may be severe enough to interrupt or prevent you from sleeping.

-Fatigue or easy tiring is another common symptom. As the heart’s pumping capacity decreases, muscles and other tissues receive less oxygen and nutrition, which are carried in the blood. Without proper fuel (oxygen from the blood) provided by our engine (the heart), the body cannot perform as much work as it use to do (just like going from in shape to out of shape in time). The ending line is this will result into fatigue.

-Fluid accumulation will cause swelling in the feet, ankles, legs, and occasionally the abdomen (if the fluid building up in the body gets severe), what we medically call edema.   Through gravity the blood goes backwards and our body allows water to transfer in the skin to allow the fluid to go somewhere other than the bloodstream to decrease fluid overload to the heart by compensating. It body compensates since the blood is going backwards from the heart causing fluid back up. Excess fluid retained by the body will result into weight gain, which sometimes occurs fairly quickly (if you have CHF already you should always call your M.D. if you weight gain is 3lbs or more in a week, odds are high this is due to fluid building up).

-Persistent coughing is another common sign, especially coughing that regularly produces mucus or pink, blood-tinged sputum. Some people develop raspy breathing or wheezing.

-Heart failure usually goes through a slow development process, the symptoms may not appear until the condition has progressed over the years. This happens because the heart first compensates by making adjustments with the heart that delay or slow down but do not prevent, the eventual loss in pumping capacity. In time failure happens, just like a car in when it gets older over several years is starts showing one problem after another and is exchanged for a newer car; same principle with the heart in that you show signs and symptoms as your heart starts to slow down to failure and its either treat the problem or get a transplant of the organ (which is unlikely to happen).  The heart first hides the underlying process but compensates by doing this to your heart:

1- Enlargement to the muscle of the heart (causing “dilatation”) which allows more blood into the heart.

2- Thickening of muscle fibers (causing “hypertrophy”) to strengthen the heart muscle, which allows the heart to contract more forcefully and pump more blood.

3- More frequent contraction, which increases circulation.

By making these adjustments, or compensating, the heart can temporarily make up for losses in pumping ability, sometimes for years. However, compensation of the organ can only last so long, not forever (like anything in life the living thing or an object will go through a ending life process to termination). Eventually the heart cannot offset the lost ability to pump blood, and the signs of heart failure appear.

DIAGNOSIS

In many cases, physicians diagnose heart failure during a simple physical examination. Readily identifiable signs are shortness of breath, fatigue, and swollen ankles and feet. The physician also will check for the presence of risk factors, such as hypertension, obesity and a history of heart problems.

Using a stethoscope, the physician can listen to a patient breathe and identify the sounds of lung congestion. The stethoscope also picks up the abnormal heart sounds indicative of heart failure.

If one or not both symptoms or the patient’s history point to a clear cut diagnosis, the physician may recommend any of a variety of laboratory tests, including, initially, an electrocardiogram (EKG), which uses recording devices placed on the chest to evaluate the electrical activity of a patient’s heartbeat which will be affected by CHF.

Echocardiography is another means of evaluating heart function from outside the body. This works through sound waves that bounce off the heart are recorded and translated into images. The pictures can reveal abnormal heart sizes, shape, and movement. Echocardiography also can be used to calculate a patient’s ejection fraction which is a measurement of the amount of blood pumped when the heart contracts.

Another possible test is the chest x-ray, which also determines the heart’s size and shape, as well as the presence of congestion in the lungs.  The lab blood test performed is called a BNP and if elevated it further helps diagnose for the MD that the patient has CHF BUT the elevation of your BNP alone doesn’t mean you have CHF.

Tests help rule out other possible causes of symptoms. The symptoms of heart failure can result when the heart is made to work too hard, instead of from damaged muscle (like in a heart attack). Conditions that overload the heart occur rarely and include severe anemia and thyrotoxicosis (a disease resulting from an overactive thyroid gland).

Prevention of CHF:

-If not diagnosed yet your already possibly ahead. Without this diagnosis you can get started on making yourself further away from being diagnosed with this disease. How to reach this goal is through living a routine life through healthy habits practiced, healthy dieting over all, and balancing rest with exercise during the week 30-40 minutes a day or 1 hour to 1.5 hours 3 times a week and not being obese. They all would benefit the heart in not stressing it out making the heart’s function harder in doing its function. When the heart stresses out it is at risk for lacking oxygen putting it at potential for angina (heart pain) to a heart attack with over time leading toward failure of the heart. Need to learn more about what is and how to get your weight in therapeutic body mass index range through dieting of all 4 food groups, balancing exercise/rest, and knowing how the body works with all ingredients in foods including portion sizes (fats, calories, starches, carbohydrates, proteins with vitamins and minerals) to understanding how all this information takes effect in how your metabolism operates in being beneficial or against you?   Well than go to healthyusa.tsfl.com and take a peek at what we offer at such a reasonable price and more of a reachable goal with having Dr. Anderson through access of his book “Dr. A’s healthy habits” with me as your personal coach and if you want foods to eat in helping you lose weight if needed I’m there to help you with any questions you may have and even for support. To take a peek go to healthyusa.tsfl.com and see what we offer for no price and with no hacking. Join me and so many others in attempting to reach this goal. So far I have lost 22lbs. and hope to lose more.