medications. Consult with your doctor if you are having extreme side effects.
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How to treat heart failure
The good news is doctors have learned a lot about how to treat heart failure through a combination of prescription drugs that can provide relief for most symptoms. With this revelation, life expectancy for patients with CHF has risen. About half of people diagnosed with heart failure will live at least five years or more compared with 41% in 2000, a study notes.
Reducing the fluid in your body will allow your heart to not have to work as hard. To help with this your doctor may recommend fluid restriction or suggest that you limit your salt intake.
Your doctor may also prescribe Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) to help your heart pump blood more effectively and increase life expectancy. These can be used alongside other medications.
You can also ask your doctor about beta-blockers, which will control your heart rate and increase your heart’s ability to pump blood.
If you have advanced heart failure, you may opt to get a left ventricular assisted device (LVAD), a pump that helps increase the heart’s ability to squeeze or receive a heart transplant. Older people, however, aren’t considered a fit for transplants.
READ: 8 Surprising Factors That Could Be Putting Your Heart At Risk
Additionally, making the following lifestyle changes can increase your life expectancy:
- Diet– you should opt for a low-sodium diet and limit alcohol consumption. Alcohol consumption can weaken your heart muscles.
- Exercise– you can work with your healthcare professionals to put together a workout plan that tailors your needs and tolerances. For example, aerobic exercises have proven to increase your heart’s ability to function.
- Monitor your weight- if you have heart failure, you need to monitor your weight more closely. If you noticed that you have gained 2-3 pounds in just a couple of days, you should notify your doctor. Your doctor may increase your dose of diuretics to control the fluid accumulation before it becomes more severe.
Although CHF is not curable, you can improve your life expectancy with early detection, treatment and making the appropriate lifestyle changes.