Disease condition of heart muscle
How is the condition?
Lighter grades of heart failure are treated in general practice. The pronounced heart failures are needed hospital treatment. The aim of treatment is to relieve symptoms, improve quality of life and increase life expectancy.
Self-Treatment
There are several things you can do:
- Eat less salt. When you have a lower blood pressure, and make work easier for the heart. Salt bound fluid in the body, which increases the load on the heart. The total salt intake during the day should not exceed one teaspoon, corresponding to approx. 6 g of salt (NaCl). Limited intake of salt means cessation of all the extra salt added to the diet as in baking bread, potato cooking, etc.
- Avoid large meals, eat less and do more frequent meals.
- Avoid large amounts of alcohol.
- Stump the smoke.
- It may be helpful to lose weight if you are overweight.
- Physical activity should be guided by symptoms. Can you regularly exercise a little; it is useful? However, you should not charge more than your body allows.
There are many drugs that are effective in heart failure. The major drug groups are:
- ACE inhibitors work by widening blood vessels so that blood pressure goes down, and the load on the heart is reduced. This type of drug is today due to treatment in the vast majority of heart failure.
- Beta blockers have the heart to beat slower, they lower blood pressure and strengthens the heart. Furthermore, this type of drug used by most people.
- Diuretic reduces fluid in the body and thus the strain on the heart. It is part preferably in a form of triple therapy with ACE inhibitor and beta blocker.
- Digitalis strengthens the heart. These were widely used before, but used less these days.
- There are also other products that are beneficial in heart failure, and a host of new treatments is being developed and tested.
Another treatment
For some it may be appropriate with surgery. This is particularly the flap failure. Among patients with a tendency to serious arrhythmias may be necessary to operate a pacemaker or electric equipment (ICD). Very rarely do a heart transplant.