Heart Failure
Health Tools help you make wise decisions and take action to improve your health.
Avoiding
triggers for sudden heart failure
Heart
failure means your heart muscle does not pump as much blood as your body needs. Failure does not mean
that your heart has stopped. It means that your heart is not pumping as well as it should. Because your
heart cannot pump well, your body tries to make up for it. To do this, your body holds on to salt and
water. This increases the amount of blood in your bloodstream. Your heart beats faster. Your heart gets
bigger.
Your body has an amazing ability to make up for heart failure. It may do such a good job that you don't know you have the disease, but at some point, your body will no longer be able to keep up. Heart failure usually gets worse over time. Treatment can slow the disease and help you feel better and live longer.
