Essay - Congestive Heart Failure Introduction Congestive Heart Failure is a Serious...

Congestive Heart Failure

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Congestive heart failure is a serious problem for many individuals in this country. Primarily, it affects older Americans but it is possible for younger individuals to be affected by this cond*****ion as well. When individuals have congestive heart failure the heart continues ***** work and does not actually fail but instead it has difficulty pumping enough blood to keep ***** body supplied with what it needs. Individuals that suffer from congestive heart failure are able to perform many normal activities ***** they cannot do anything that is strenuous or taxing on the body because ***** will become overly tired and short of breath quite easily. There ***** several conditions that can result in congestive heart failure ***** *****se include cardiomyopathy, congenital heart defects, an infection ***** the heart muscle or *****y of the heart valves, high blood pressure, a past ***** attack, diseases of the heart valves, and c*****onary artery disease, or a narrowing ***** the arteries.

Disease Condition

In ***** heart ***** the blood flow ***** normally comes ***** ***** ***** is slowed down ***** therefore the blood that is coming through the veins and returning ***** the heart often backs up. This can cause swelling of various tissues. In general the swelling is usually seen in the legs ***** feet but any part of the body can swell due to the congestion ***** the tissues that ***** fluid buildup ********** (Congestive, 2005). One ***** the main places that fluid can backup and cause a ***** problem is in the lungs (Congestive, *****). When this happens the *****dividual with ***** condition ***** experiences difficulty in breathing ***** this is especially seen when the individual ***** lying down (Congestive, 2005). In addition ***** this backing up of blood and ***** of tissues, having congestive heart failure also ***** the kidneys. They are not able to dispose as easily of the water and sodium ***** *****y would ***** get rid of ***** the retaining ***** ***** water in the body increases ***** ********** (Congestive, 2005).

In addition to the causes that were listed above in the introduction, there are also other risk factors for ***** heart *****. These include both lifestyle factors and medical conditions, as well as other things. If an individual has a risk f*****ctor for congestive heart failure, the likelihood of *****ting ***** disease or condition is increased. However, it is ***** to develop ***** heart ***** even *****out the risk factors, ***** possible that congestive ***** failure ***** not occur in some people that do have the risk *****. However, the likelihood of **********g congestive heart failure goes up w*****h the number ***** risk factors an ***** has, so *****y ***** important and signifi*****t.

From the standpoint of medical conditions the following are risk factors for developing ***** heart *****: coronary ***** *****, previous history of ***** disease, obesity, high ***** *****, diabetes, severe emphysema, and hyperthyroidism (Badash, 2003). The ***** factors that increase an individual's risk of developing congestive heart failure include