Why does heart failure cause edema

More severe cases of edema may be treated with diuretics medications that help your body expel excess fluid in urine. If edema is caused by an underlying health condition such as heart failure, long-term management should focus on treating the underlying condition.

Elevating the Affected Limb Holding the swollen arm or leg above heart level several times a day can help reduce swelling.

In some instances, elevating the affected limb while sleeping may also be beneficial. Exercise Moving the muscles in the part of the body affected by edema, particularly the legs, can help pump excess fluid back to the heart. Talk to your healthcare provider about exercises that are right for you. Massage Firm but not painful strokes around the affected area toward the heart may help stimulate excess fluid to move out of the area.

Reduced Salt Intake Too much salt can increase fluid retention and worsen swelling. Talk to your doctor about the best ways to limit sodium intake in your diet. Compression Your doctor may recommend compression socks, sleeves, or gloves after the swelling has gone down in your limbs to prevent it from recurring.

These garments keep pressure on the arms and legs to prevent fluid from collecting. American Heart Association. This leading heart association offers a wide array of resources on heart disease, including heart failure, which can result in swelling edema. The website lists practical tips for dealing with edema and available treatments. This website was started as a forum for heart failure experts to discuss all things related to heart failure, heart function, and congestive heart disease.

The patient section of the site has information on apps to manage heart failure and a toolkit with information on living well with the condition.

Developed by two heart failure specialists, the website outlines the basics of heart failure. Mayo Clinic. The Mayo Clinic, a world class heart treatment center, has created a list of many diuretics — a type of medication that can help treat edema.

Skin may be diaphoretic or cold, gray, and cyanotic. Jugular venous distention JVD is frequently present. Wheezing or rales may be heard on lung auscultation.

The apical impulse is often displaced laterally. Cardiac auscultation may reveal aortic or mitral valvular abnormalities, S3 or S4. Lower extremity edema may also be noted, especially in the subacute process.

Until recently, differentiating asthma and other pulmonary disease has been difficult in the acute setting, particularly due to the poor sensitivities and specificities of most elements of history and physical examination. The standard of care has been shotgun therapy, namely treating patients for both CHF and an acute pulmonary process such as asthma, with both diuretics and beta agonists. Mueller found a reduction in hospital length of stay of three days when BNP levels were utilized.

However, this study assumed an average length of stay of 11 days. In addition, although the time to initiation of therapy was reduced in this study from 90 to 60 minutes, the general practice in the US is immediate initiation of shotgun therapy.

In the primary care setting, Wright identified patients with heart failure and revaluated them with or without the Pro-BNP result. BNP is available as a point-of-care test, with results available within 15 minutes.

However, other conditions that also elevate right filling pressures such as pulmonary embolus, primary pulmonary hypertension, end stage renal failure, cirrhosis and hormone replacement therapy may also cause elevated BNP levels in this range. Other serum laboratory values may identify prerenal azotemia or elevated alanine aminotransferase ALT , aspartate aminotransferase AST , or bilirubin, suggestive of a congestive hepatopathy.

Mild azotemia, decreased erythrocyte sedimentation rate ESR , and proteinuria are observed in early and mild-to-moderate disease. Increased creatinine, hyperbilirubinemia, and dilutional hyponatremia are observed in severe cases.

Cardiac enzymes and other serum markers for ischemia or infarction may be useful as well. Pleural effusions may be present bilaterally or, if they are unilateral, are more commonly observed on the right. Pulmonary edema is observed as perihilar infiltrates often in the classic butterfly pattern reflecting a PCWP greater than 25mmHg. Several limitations exist in the use of chest X-rays when attempting to diagnose CHF. Classic radiographic progression often is not found, and as much as a hour radiographic lag from onset of symptoms may occur.

In addition, radiographic findings frequently persist for several days despite clinical recovery. Emergency transthoracic echocardiography ECHO may help identify regional wall motion abnormalities as well as globally depressed or myopathic left ventricular function.

ECHO may help identify cardiac tamponade, pericardial constriction, and pulmonary embolus. ECHO also is useful in identifying valvular heart disease, such as mitral or aortic stenosis or regurgitation. Electrocardiogram ECG is a non-specific tool but may be useful in diagnosing concomitant cardiac ischemia, prior myocardial infarction MI , cardiac dysrhythmias, chronic hypertension, and other causes of left ventricular hypertrophy.

No defined role exists for invasive monitoring devices such as central venous placement CVP lines. Time-consuming placement of pulmonary artery catheters has not been shown to prolong survival, even in the coronary care unit and, thus far, has not been well studied in the ED setting.

Cardiac catheterization may be necessary for a complete evaluation, treatment and assessment of prognosis. In patients refractory to medical therapy or with evidence of cardiogenic shock, cardiac catheterization, angioplasty, coronary bypass, or intra-aortic balloon pump IABP may be helpful. Cardiac monitoring and continuous pulse oximetry must also be utilized, and intravenous IV access obtained. To reduce venous return, the head of the bed should be elevated.

Patients may be most comfortable in a sitting position with their legs dangling over the side of the bed, which allows for reduced venous return and decreased preload. Therapy generally starts with nitrates and diuretics if patients are hemodynamically stable. Many other treatment modalities may play some role in acute management. If possible, the underlying cause should be treated as well. This is particularly true for patients with known diastolic dysfunction who respond best to reductions in blood pressure rather than to diuretics, nitrates, and inotropic agents.

Contributing factors must be eliminated where possible, and fluid and sodium restricted. Recent data comparing nasal CPAP therapy with facemask ventilation therapy has demonstrated a decreased need for intubation rates when these modalities are used. Pressure then builds up in the veins of the lungs, causing fluid to leak into the lung tissues. This may cause CHF and pulmonary edema. This causes you to feel short of breath, weak, or dizzy. These symptoms are often worse with exertion, such as when climbing stairs or walking up hills.

Lying with your head flat is uncomfortable and can make your breathing worse. This may make sleeping difficult. You may need to use extra pillows to elevate your upper body to sleep well.

The same is true when just resting during the daytime. You may also feel weak or tired and have less energy during exertion. Heart failure is usually a chronic condition.

The purpose of medical treatment is to improve the pumping action of the heart and to remove excess water from the body. A number of medicines can help reach this goal, improve symptoms, and prevent the heart from becoming weaker. Sometimes, heart failure can become so severe that a device is placed in the heart to help with pumping. Another major goal is to better treat the causes of heart failure, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, by making changes in your lifestyle and maximizing medical control when needed.

Check your weight every day. This is very important because a sudden increase in weight gain could mean worsening heart failure.

Keep these things in mind:. Keep a record of your weight every day so your healthcare provider can see it. If you are not given a log sheet for this, keep a separate journal for this purpose. Cut back on the amount of salt sodium you eat. Follow your healthcare provider's recommendation on how much salt or sodium you should have each day.

Limit high-salt foods. These include olives, pickles, smoked meats, salted potato chips, and most prepared foods. Read the labels carefully on food packages to learn how much salt or sodium is in each serving in the package. Read on to learn the risk factors…. A doctor diagnoses heart failure based on symptoms, a physical exam, and diagnostic tests. Then, they can suggest treatment that's right for your….

Diastolic heart failure is a serious heart condition. Learn about the symptoms, causes, treatment options, and outlook. Edema is swelling that occurs from fluid retention. Read more on what causes it, when to seek emergency medical help, and how to treat it. Health Conditions Discover Plan Connect. Medically reviewed by Dr. Payal Kohli, M. Heart failure and edema Types of edema Types of heart failure Treatments Takeaway Edema is the clinical term for swelling caused by fluid retention.

Why does heart failure cause edema? What are the different types of edema? What are the different types of heart failure? What are the current treatment options for edema?