Congestive heart failure is a long-term condition that happens when your heart can't pump blood well enough to give your body a normal supply. Blood and fluids collect in your lungs and legs over time. Medications and other treatments help manage symptoms like swelling.In general, more than half of all people diagnosed with congestive heart failure will survive for 5 years. About 35% will survive for 10 years.


Congestive Heart Failure: Symptoms, Stages & Treatment

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My father was diagnosed with CHF at the age of 78.
He was challenged with this condition for five years.
He passed at 83 years old with complications from it.

My husband has heart failure, but not congestive heart failure. His heart is weakened and wasn’t pumping blood as well as it should. However, unlike patients with congestive heart failure he does not get fluid build up in the lungs, feet, legs or arms. He was diagnosed with it 9 years ago, takes various medications and is monitored regularly. His condition is stable : he does not drink or smoke and is careful with his diet.
He was shocked when he was first diagnosed with heart failure but has adjusted his lifestyle accordingly.

It all started with a cough I couldn't shake off at the turn of this year. I did wonder if it was Covid, but subsequent tests proved negative. I continued working my physical job, but was finding it more and more difficult. I was becoming easily breathless and my mobility gradually suffered to the point when even walking out to the kitchen or up the stairs to the bathroom was becoming physically difficult. Sleeping was nigh on impossible even sitting up with banked up pillows and so I hastily called the GP and they had me in reasonably swiftly. An ECG at the surgery revealed that I had Atrial Fibrillation and the next stage was an Echo cardiogram at the local hospital. I received a call a day or so afterwards asking me to go in for a chat with the consultant to discuss the results as an outpatient. That outpatient appointment became an inpatient one because he could see what a state, I was in. By then I was only able to go a few metres before gasping for breath and found extreme difficulty in eating and drinking. I was whisked off to the acute medical unit and then on to the cardiac ward for a week. Their main concern was the fluid build up as I had swelled up like a water balloon in places. My reluctance and general stubbornness not to seek help made me a medical emergency. Like I said, I was diagnosed with AFib but the Echo also revealed CHF with an Ejection fraction of 23%. When I was discharged, I was 42lbs lighter after all the diuretics had purged the fluid and since then I've been given 7 different medicines to manage the AFib and CHF. I'm now under the wing of the local cardiac liaison teams and tested and monitored regularly because of some of the medicines can potentially cause side effects with Amiodarone probably being the most potent. It has at least knocked my arrhythmia back into a normal rhythm for now. Another knock-on effect of the CHF though is that I was diagnosed with diabetes 2 last week that according to the GP has been caused by the CHF.
I am aware of the stats mentioned upthread and they seem grim, but my cardiac team seem pretty chipper about my prospects and I'm feeling loads better thanks to the support of the team and of course all of those heart meds. I'm determined to baulk those stats and continue far beyond the next decade by adopting the medical advice I'm given along with all the necessary lifestyle changes.
I apologise for the ramble. I just wanted anyone in the same situation as I was not to wait as long as I did before seeking help and take whatever help and support is offered, in my case, from the much maligned NHS for whom I am forever grateful to, and from outside agencies like the BHF British Heart Foundation and its equivalent in other countries.

Last year after admission to the QE in Birmingham (one of a subsequent few admissions) unable to breathe, literally gasping for breath, I was diagnosed with heart failure. It came as a horrible shock as I already had kidney failure for 6 years which is treated with thrice weekly haemodialysis . The fact is that once the kidneys stop working it affects other organs especially the heart. My symptoms were complicated by my not having enough fluid removed each session thus my lungs were impacted with fluid which now is removed diligently with no chance of build up.
My ejection fraction was 27% when last measured which is not brilliant at all but like Mandycakes I am not downcast, having medication that helps my heart to work less hard pumping blood around. I do feel very tired walking sometimes, but stop, then continue,..some days better than others.
I lso have pulsatile tinnitus in my left ear which allows me to hear my heartbeat when all is quiet, especially at night, and it's very disconcerting as every now and again my heart stops for a second then thuds and starts again. I've googled it and it's quite common and (hopefully) nothing to worry about, but I would rather not hear it at all
In June I had four stents inserted into my arteries after another emergency admission. I can't praise the surgeon and staff who came in on their day off, enough - it was a Sunday- to perform the procedure. I used to have very bad discomfort in my chest on exertion, all that has gone now thanks to this simple operation.
The term Heart Failure does sound ominous but with medication, lifestyle adjustments and a positive attitude, we can still live as good a life as is possible.

After first being diagnosed my husband was a patient of a specialist heart failure nurse who used to visit him at our home. She was really good and was able to allay some of his fears as he was terribly shocked - the term heart failure is scary.
Now he takes his condition in his stride, takes care of himself, makes sure he attends the GP surgery / hospital appointments for all of his check ups, and reports any side effects from medications promptly.

an interesting article in some of this morning's papers

Royston wrote: an interesting article in some of this morning's papers

Yes, it is very encouraging.