Congestive Heart Failure Stages

Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) is a medical condition in which the heart is unable to meet the body's need for blood supply. It's important to understand that CHF is not the same as heart disease - cardiomyopathy, myocardial infarction, or cardiac arrest for instance, but is one of the causative factors that may lead to these conditions. Congestive heart failure does not indicate that the heart stops working; in fact it's a condition that people can live with for prolonged periods, with several episodes of heart failure over a period of time. This is a common but dangerous medical condition, which can have significant impact on daily life and physical capabilities. It essentially has four progressive stages, and the symptoms for each vary with the progression of the disease. Discussed below are the causes, stages and symptoms of this condition.

Causes
There are a number of causes that can give rise to the symptoms of congestive heart failure. Some of these include a family history of coronary disease, congenital heart defects, damage to the heart valves, earlier episodes of cardiac arrests, or chronic high blood pressure.

Stages

Stage One
CHF begins with slight feelings of fatigue, which could show up when exercising, or may be experienced as a general feeling of tiredness or exhaustion. Since this is an unspecific symptom, it's not unusual for people who suffer from the first stage of CHF, to put it down to overwork, stress, or age. Mild weakness may also accompany the feeling of fatigue, but generally, the initial symptoms rarely manifest as a cause for concern. The initial stages may be accompanied by symptoms that very often do not create much concern. As the stages progress, the symptoms manifest in myriad ways, often leaving a debilitating effect on the life of an affected person.

Stage Two
The second stage of CHF is generally accompanied by the inability to perform routine exercises, shortness of breath, heart palpitations and in some cases episodes of angina. Mild exercise can cause extreme discomfort, which may be relieved to some extent by periods of rest.

Stage Three
In the third stage, the patient is comfortable only when at rest. Daily activities can cause extreme shortness of breath, wheezing and a persistent cough. Physical activity becomes severely limited. The typical symptoms of congestive heart failure in this stage are weakness, dizziness or fainting, swollen feet and ankles, resulting from fluid build up, rapid breathing, shortness of breath and increased frequency of urination, especially at night.

Stage Four
The fourth stage of CHF is also the final stage. The patient may experience discomfort even when at rest, and may be unable to perform any daily activities. Basic movements can cause strain on the heart, palpitations, a persistent, dry, hacking cough and a bluish tinge to the skin may develop.

The pathophysiology of congestive heart failure is extremely complex. Since it can be caused by any condition which reduces the efficiency of the working of the human heart, the underlying causes may be as varied as amyloidosis (protein deposits on the heart muscles, causing stiffness), myocardial infarction or hypertension. The overriding effect of the factors that lead to this condition is reduced cardiac output and an increase in the strain on the heart. The treatment of this condition changes according to the stage of detection; initially through specific prescription drugs such as ACE inhibitors which expand blood vessels and thereby increase blood flow, and beta blockers to lower blood pressure.

As the stages of congestive heart failure progress, surgery may be of some help. As the heart gets weaker, simple tasks become more and more difficult. In some cases, a heart transplant may succeed, but the conditions that allow for this extremely complex form of surgery are not always available. Although prevention may not be entirely in your hands, understanding the early warning symptoms and following a healthy lifestyle can help in the reduction of risk associated with this medical condition.