Congestive Heart Failure Analysis

The person that I am familiar with, and who suffered from congestive heart failure was a 54-year-old woman (RS). When I compare her symptoms to those now understood from a clinical perspective the signs were obvious. She experienced shortness of breath, fluid retention, swelling in her hands and feet, diagnosed sleep apnea, tiredness and exhaustion. The clinical manifestations are LV (left ventricle) failure, exertional dyspnea, and dyspnea at rest pulmonary edema, edema, fatigue and weakness (Heart Failure Signs and Symptoms, 2014). Even though I did not know if RS had chest pains or pressure or experienced heart palpitations, my assumptions were that she did at some point as her condition was severe.

Systolic heart failure involves how the body is oxygenated; therefore, RS symptoms of dyspnea at rest, and after small amounts of physical movement indicate that she suffered this type of failure. However, she also suffered from hypertension which points to diastolic heart failure because of irregular heartbeat and the hardening of the arteries. In addition, RS suffered from diabetes and other ailments. It is conclusive that she suffered from both systolic and diastolic heart failure.

The left side of the heart contains the largest muscle, the LV, which is the largest pump; this pump is the engine that is at work pumping blood throughout the body. After the blood is sent through the body, the work of the right ventricle (RV) begins by sending the blood to the lungs to facilitate filling them with oxygen. Heart failure usually begins on the left side, therefore, when the left side of the heart further deteriorates it causes the lungs to be filled with fluid, then the rights side is compromised because it is working harder to relieve the pressure of the back-up fluid, and over a period of time RV is damaged because of the excessive amount of work it has to do.

Jugular vein distention is linked to right-side or right atrium heart failure. It is a common and classic sign when both sides of the neck are swollen (Ferguson, 2014). When pitting ankle edema is symptomatic in a heart failure patient, this indicates that the kidneys are not functioning properly. The kidneys behave as if the body is not getting enough water because the flow of blood has been compromised; this results in the ankles swelling because of an excess water build-up. When blood pressure is continuously high ultimately the liver is affected because of improper blood flow, similar to the kidney organ, the liver begins to retain fluid and become enlarged. In addition, the body retains urine because it is believed that it is not getting enough fluid also due to a decrease in the flow of blood.