Your heart is a pump that moves fluids through your body. Heart failure is when fluids do not move well and build up in places in your body they should not be. Most often, fluid collects in your lungs and legs. Heart failure usually occurs because the muscles of your heart are weak.
Below are some questions you may want to ask your doctor or nurse to help you take care of your heart failure.
How do I check my pulse and blood pressure? How should I check my weight? When should I do these checks? What supplies do I need? How should I keep track of my blood pressure, weight, and pulse?
What are the signs and symptoms that my heart failure is getting worse? Will I always have the same symptoms?
What medicines am I taking to treat heart failure?
How much activity or exercise can I do?
Do I need to go to a cardiac rehabilitation program?
Are there limits on what I can do at work?
What should I do if I feel sad or very worried about my heart disease?
How can I change the way I live to make my heart stronger?
What to ask your doctor about heart failure; HF - what to ask your doctor
Updated by: David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.
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