Congestive Heart Failure: A Case Study

CHF can be caused by many different reasons. Sometimes CHF can be a heart defect or can be caused by unhealthy lifestyles. “CHF is an ongoing condition in which the heart muscle is weakened and can’t pump as well as it normally does” (Congestive Heart Failure). When the heart becomes too weak to continue to pump blood throughout the body, it is called Congestive Heart Failure. When CHF first

Heart failure affects nearly 6 million Americans. It is the leading cause of hospitalization in people older than 65. Roughly 550,000 people are diagnosed with heart failure each year (Emory Healthcare, 2014). Heart failure is a pathologic state where the heart cannot pump enough blood to meet the demand of the body’s metabolic needs or when the ventricle’s ability to fill is impaired. It is not a disease, but rather a complex clinical syndrome. The symptoms of heart failure come from pulmonary vascular congestion and inadequate perfusion of the systemic circulation. Individuals experience orthopnea,

Complete Blood Cell Count (CBC): White blood cell count (WBC), Red blood cell count (RBC), Hematocrit (Hct), Hemoglobin (Hgb),Platelets (Plt)

Working on a cardiac unit for seven years has given me the opportunity to become familiar with congestive heart failure. This is a complicated condition that is sometimes difficult to manage. Your first questions is an excellent question, one that is extremely important when caring for these individuals with congestive heart failure. Without complete understanding of congestion heart failure, patients are frequently readmitted due to poor medical management. Caring for these individuals usually focus on treatments including the delicate balance of intake and output, medications and diagnostic testing. Your question regarding how CHF has impacted a person’s life focuses on the psychological aspect of this condition. Although

History: Martha Wilmington, a 74-year-old woman with a history of rheumatic fever while in her twenties, presented to her physician with complaints of increasing shortness of breath ("dyspnea") upon exertion. She also noted that the typical swelling she's had in her ankles for years has started to get worse over the past two months, making it especially difficult to get her shoes on toward the end of the day. In the past week, she's had a decreased appetite, some nausea and vomiting, and tenderness in the right upper quadrant of the abdomen.

Congestive Heart Failure is when the heart's pumping power is weaker than normal. It does not mean the heart has stopped working. The blood moves through the heart and body at a slower rate, and pressure in the heart increases. This means; the heart cannot pump enough oxygen and nutrients to meet the body's needs. The chambers of the heart respond by stretching to hold more blood to pump through the body or by becoming more stiff and thickened. This only keeps the blood moving for a short while. The heart muscle walls weaken and are unable to pump as strongly. This makes the kidneys respond by causing the body to retain fluid and sodium. When the body builds up with fluids, it becomes congested. Many conditions can cause heart

Congestive Heart failure: Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) is a cardiac disease associated with the decreasing capacity of the cardiac output. It has been shown that the CHF is the main cause of cardiac death around the world (Lucena, Barros, & Ohnishi, 2016). Congestive heart failure is the inability of the left side of the heart to pump an adequate amount of blood due to certain conditions. Because of these conditions, the heart become weak and unable to pump all of the blood forward and some of

To understand the signs and symptoms of left-sided versus right-sided heart failure, remember that left-sided signs and symptoms are found in the lungs. Left begins with L, as does lung. Any signs and symptoms not related to the lungs are caused by right-sided failure (Williams and Hopper). Some signs and symptoms of heart failure are shortness of breath (dyspnea), fatigue, chronic cough or wheezing, rapid or irregular heartbeat, lack of appetite or nausea, mental confusion or impaired thinking, fluid buildup and swelling, and rapid weight gain, and the need to urinate more at night. In order to determine heart failure the physician will do a diagnostic test which includes a chest x-ray, echocardiogram, ejection fraction (EF), and electrocardiogram (EKG or ECG).

Heart failure is term that is used to describe the heart’s inability to work efficiently as a pump. In order to decipher if an individual is likely to have heart failure is through their health history. Common backgrounds associated are diabetes mellitus, kidney dysfunction, hypertension, chronic lung disease, angina, myocardial infarction, and ischemic heart disease (Kirk, 2011). It is accompanied by shortness of breath on exertion, decreased exercise tolerance, paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea, orthopnea, ankle swelling, sudden weight gain, lack of appetite or nausea and difficulty concentrating (Kirk, 2011). In worsening conditions it could progress to fluid buildup, rapid or irregular heartbeat, chest pains , and sudden

An evaluation typically includes a complete blood count (CBC), a visual look at the blood cells placed on a glass

The heart is a muscle, the most important one in the body. It works like a pump; it receives blood from the body and pumps the blood into the lungs, where it receives oxygen. This oxygen rich blood is then pumped out in to the body system to nourish the body. Congestive heart failure occurs when this pumping action is impaired, and the heart cannot pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs. When the heart cannot pump out the blood it receives, excess fluid may back up into the lungs and other body tissues. If the amount of nourishment to the body

Full Blood Count is a test used to evaluate the composition and concentration of the cellular components of blood such as red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, etc. The abnormality it could identify are anaemia which means that there are less red blood cells or less haemoglobin in red blood cells than normal; polycythaemia which means there are too many red blood cells due to various causes; leucopoenia which means there are too few white cells due to various causes; leucocytosis which means there are too many white blood cells; thrombocytopenia which means there are too few platelets and thromnocythaemia which means there are too many platelets due to a disorders which affect cells in bone marrow which make the platelets.

Heart Failure which is also known sometimes as congestive heart failure (CHF) is where your hear muscle doesn’t pump adequately (mayoclinic.org). Thus meaning that the heart muscle is weakened, and blood flows through the heart at a much slower pace than normal. There are quite a few things that cause CHF, but generally it stems from a previous heart defect or problem. For example, Cardiomyopathy, which is damage to the heart that comes from other blood flow issues, such as from alcohol or drug abuse.

Congestive heart failure is when in the heart 's function as a pump is unable to meet the body 's needs. Some symptoms people may experience if they are having congestive heart failure may be fatigue, shortness of breath and having a hard time exercising. The main treatment for congestive heart failure is also lifestyle change, medication, and if the case is really bad a heart transplant would be needed.

Blood chemistry or blood test is identifying the different levels of chemical ingredients found in the blood. The analysis of these substances provides clues to a patient’s condition and the functioning of the major body systems such as, blood sugar levels, liver functions, essential nutrients etc. This helps doctors in diagnosing the patient’s conditions much easier and quicker.