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Health Issue: Congestive Heart Failure

Symptoms and Facts

  • Cough
  • Decreased alertness or concentration
  • Decreased urine production
  • Difficulty sleeping
  • Fatigue, weakness, faintness
  • Irregular or rapid pulse 
  •  Loss of appetite, indigestion 
  •   Nausea and vomiting 
  •  Neck veins that stick out 
  •  Need to urinate at night
  • Sensation of feeling the heart beat (palpitations)
  • Shortness of breath with activity, or after lying down for a while 
  •  Swelling of the abdomen
  • Swelling of feet and ankles
  • Weight gain

Infants may sweat during feeding (or other activity).

Some patients with heart failure have no symptoms. In these people, the symptoms may develop only with these conditions:

  • Abnormal heart rhythm (arrhythmias)
  • Anemia 
  •  Hyperthyroidism
  • Infections with high fever
  • Kidney disease