Congestive Heart Failure

Heart failure, also called congestive heart failure, is a life-threatening condition in which the heart can no longer pump enough blood to the rest of the body. The heart becomes enlarged and flabby, and its pumping action becomes weaker. In yesterday’s world, death was usually imminent if a person’s heart started to fail. But, in today’s world, we have the drugs and ability to maintain the heart for several more years. However, the heart will ultimately become so diseased, it will fail completely and stop pumping.

Congestive heart failure is serious. The heart is not pumping enough blood. If you experience any of the following symptoms, call your doctor:

• Shortness of breath that gets worse
• A gain of more than 5 pounds in one week

Compared with adults with normal thyroid function, congestive heart failure was about twice as common in patients with moderate or severe asymptomatic hypothyroidism.

The researchers defined moderate asymptomatic hypothyroidism as a TSH level of 7.0 to 9.9 mIU/L and severe asymptomatic hypothyroidism as a TSH of 10 mIU/L or greater. Compared with study participants with normal thyroid function, older adults with TSH levels of 7.0 mIU/L or higher had a two- to three-fold increased risk of congestive heart failure. The rate of new or recurrent heart failure was also increased in this group.