Congestive Heart Failure: Causes, Symptoms, and Management

Running head: CASE STUDY 1 ANALYSIS
CASE STUDY 1 ANALYSIS
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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CASE STUDY 1 ANALYSIS
Disease and causes, incidence and risks and impact of the disorder on patient and family:
Congestive heart failure can be described as the chronic condition, which mainly affects
the pumping ability of the muscles of the heart. It mainly refers to that of the particular stage in
which fluid is seen to build up surrounding the heart and thereby causes the heart to pump in an
inefficient manner. This disorder may result from many other health conditions that have the
ability to directly affect the cardiovascular systems. The different conditions make the heart
weak (Buck et al., 2015). In case of heart failure, the main pumping chambers of the heart which
are ventricles become stiff and do not get filled up properly between the beats. It has been also
seen that in some cases of congestive heart failure, the heart muscle might become damaged as
well as weakened. Even the ventricles are also seen to stretch to the point that the heart cannot
pump blood efficiently throughout the body (Riley et al., 2016). Over the time, the heart can no
longer keep up with the normal demands placed on it to pump blood to the rest of the body and
these results in congestive heart failure. These might have taken place in Sharon and therefore,
she might have been affected by CHF.
Different symptoms that are usually noticed at first are fatigue, swelling in the ankles,
legs and feet as well as weight gain and increase in the need for urination mainly in the night.
Irregular heartbeats, cough developing from the congested lungs, wheezing as well as shortness
of breath also show that pulmonary edema might be present (Vedel et al., 2015). Chest pain that
radiates through the upper body as well as rapid breathing along with skin appearing blue due to
lack of oxygen and fainting are other symptoms. Sharon is also seen to suffer from shortness of
breath, mild nausea, dizziness and swollen ankles as well and all these show that she suffer from
CHF.

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CASE STUDY 1 ANALYSIS
One of the risk factors of CHF may be hypertension when the individual has high blood
pressure than that of the normal. Hypertension can result from different causes like that of the
narrowing of the arteries making it difficult for the blood in flowing through them. It might also
occur due to coronary artery disorders where cholesterol and different types of other fatty
substances block the coronary arteries. These arteries are actually the small arteries that can
supply blood to the heart causing the arteries in becoming narrow that restrict blood flow
leading to the damage of the arteries. Valve conditions can also lead CHF (Mirkin et al., 2017).
Valves regulate the flow of blood through the heart by opening and closing the blood in and out
of the chambers. Valves that do not open and close correctly might force the ventricles to work
harder for pumping the blood causing the disorder.
Individuals are expiring in the nation due to this disorder where one in every 12
Australians is facing such severe deaths and is affecting around one in six Australians accounting
for about 4.2 million people. In the year 2017, about 43477 deaths have been accounted as a
result of cardiovascular disorders. Heart failure is found to be the cause of 1 to 2% of the
Australian population and is found to be more dominant among 10%of the elderly.
Patients suffering from CHF might also face from many complications over the period of
time like kidney failure as failure of the heart might result in reduced blood flow to kidneys
resulting in the latter’s failure. Heart rhythm problems and liver damages also result. All these
result in huge pain and suffering of the patients affecting the quality of life. Patients and their
family members suffer from stress and anxiety because of the suffering of patients (Moore,
2016). Families are seen to suffer from feelings of guilt as well. Patients and caregivers have to

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CASE STUDY 1 ANALYSIS
go through restricted lives making them feel frustrated. Financial stabilities might be affected
due to expenditures on healthcare services and resources. Sharon has developed CHF and her
and her family members can develop such issues accordingly.
Three common signs, symptoms, and pathophysiology that underlie the symptoms:
Symptoms pathophysiology
Sharon had developed
swollen ankles in
CHF which might be
because of the
conditions of edema
When an individual suffer from CHF, one or both of the ventricles of the heart
lose their ability to pump blood effectively. As result of these, researchers have
found that fluid gets accumulated in feet, legs as well as ankle resulting in the
structures to get swollen causing edema (Clark et al., 2016). This can also take
place in the abdomen. Therefore, Sharon is also seen to have swollen ankles
Sharon was seen to
suffer shortness of
breath
Pulmonary edema can be defined as the conditions where the lungs of the
individuals get filled up with fluid. During the time of CHF, it is seen that the
heart can no longer pump blood throughout the body. This contributes in creating
a backup pressure in the small blood vessels of the lungs. These ultimately make
the vessels to leak fluid (Ziaeian et al., 2016). When such fluid gets filled up in
the lungs, oxygen cannot be put into the blood system causing deprivation of
oxygen to the rest of the body. Therefore, when pulmonary edema occurs, body
struggle in getting enough oxygen resulting in shortness of breath.
Sharon is seen to feel
dizzy as well.
Individuals have complained of feeling dizzy when standing up quickly. Feeling
of fainting is also seen to be common symptoms in people suffering from this
disorder. Studies are of the opinion that these might be because of abnormal
rhythms of the heart or narrowing of the arteries of heart (Binaei et al., 2016).
Blood flow to the brain might get reduced and as a result of these, individuals
might feel light headed or dizzy. Sudden loss of consciousness would show that