Therapy
In the case of heart failure, the cause should first be investigated. There is often a connection with high blood pressure, coronary artery disease or heart muscle disease. Heart rhythm disturbances or diseases of the heart valves can also promote the development of heart failure.
If one or more of these causes are identified, the first step is to treat the causative disease, because this also improves the performance of the heart. In addition, a symptomatic treatment, i.e. a therapy for the symptoms, should be sought. When heart failure begins, the progression of the disease can be halted by a special sports-therapeutic training program.Weight reduction, a low-salt diet and increased consumption of Mediterranean food have a positive effect on the disease.
If symptoms such as water retention and blood congestion already occur, a reduction in fluid intake is recommended. In addition, water tablets should be prescribed by your family doctor or cardiologist. Regular monitoring of the electrolytes in the blood (especially sodium and potassium) is also important because an imbalance can damage the heart and cause problems with the heart rhythm.
In order not to put unnecessary stress on the heart, beta blockers can also be prescribed. The medicine Korodin, which is herbal and available without prescription in pharmacies, is also used in the therapy of heart failure. For more detailed information, the editorship recommends the following article: Korodin drops
Life expectancy in heart failure
Basically, heart failure is a disease that in most cases cannot be cured. It therefore requires lifelong therapy with the aim of delaying the progression of the disease for as long as possible. Life expectancy is therefore strongly related to compliance.
In addition, a change in lifestyle (change in diet, sports therapy, smoking cessation) has a positive effect on life expectancy. In general, the prognosis is strongly dependent on the stage of heart failure. It is therefore extremely important to detect the disease as early as possible.
In this way, risk factors can be eliminated at an early stage and the first steps can be taken to prevent heart failure from progressing. For this reason, it is quite possible to live with the disease for several decades if it is detected early. This contrasts with the high mortality rate in patients in the most advanced stages.
Here the survival after 5 years is only 50%. This is about the same range as many very malignant diseases. A special case is acute decompensated heart failure.
In this case the condition suddenly deteriorates dramatically due to an infection, very warm weather or overexertion. If this derailment can be contained and the deterioration reversed through increased drug therapy and close monitoring, the prognosis does not deteriorate significantly. In cases where this is not possible, heart failure may progress more rapidly and life expectancy may be significantly reduced.
