Congestive Heart Failure

[DeannaW 18]

Well, this time I'm worried I have heart issues. I try not to overanalyze things when I'm having single, isolated symptoms. For example, if I were just having some chest discomfort and nothing else, I'd probably chalk my symptoms up to acid reflux. It's when I start having more than one symptom at a time that I start worrying. For years now, I'll have a period of time where I'm feeling relatively ok, what I would call my baseline. But every few months or so, I'll experience a few weeks or days where I feel like I hit a wall and I'm exhausted for no apparent reason, and it's accompanied by things like feeling like breathing is a chore and pains on my left side. Now, I do have issues with my back, and my massage therapist always does a lot of work on my left side, because my upper back on that side is always particularly bad. But when I feel like the act of breathing is exhausting, combined with pokey pains on the left side of my chest, dizziness, and fatigue, it makes me worry about things like heart-related issues. I'm 38 (39 in a few weeks), so I feel like congestive heart failure isn't really something that would jump to most doctors' minds for someone of my age, but I also feel chest congestion when I wake up in the morning and my hands seem to swell. I have a really hard time getting my rings off now, to the point of me considering having them re-sized, and I know a lot of these symptoms could be because of heart-related problems. It's probably the swelling and the breathing thing that worries me the most. Today I was feeling super nauseous. I wear a Fitbit all day, and my resting heart rate varies from mid to upper 60s, but sometimes my heart rate will dip into the lower 50s when I'm sleeping, which seems low. I know for athletes, it's sometimes that low, but I'm hardly an athlete, even though I work out with a trainer twice a week. I also think my blood pressure is low sometimes. There are time when I've taken it where it comes back low, but this has never happened in a doctor's office. I'm making an appointment to get my yearly bloodwork done this week, so I'll probably mention this to them when I go. Oddly enough, I usually don't have issues with fatigue when I'm working out. I wear another heart rate monitor with a strap when I work out, and while my heart rate does seem to increase quickly, I never feel abnormally short of breath when it happens, and it goes back down normally I think. IDK. Sucks starting off the new year worrying about my health though! 

[bin_tenn 1252]

You haven't mentioned anything that actually suggests CHF, IMO. This "swelling" you mention sounds more like typical weight rather than edema, which is often caused by heart failure. Edema associated with CHF is often "pitting edema", meaning 1) it is very visibly swollen, and 2) you can press on a swollen area and it leaves an indention. This is due to the fluid building up in places. And it's most often in the legs/feet. I often feel like my hands or feet are swollen, when they really are not.

Your heart rate dipping into the 50s during sleep also sounds very much normal to me. A resting heart rate in the 60s is fantastic! And you shouldn't worry about the even lower sleeping heart rate, IMO.

I also feel congested, somewhat, most mornings. When I get out of bed, it's often difficult or virtually impossible to take a really deep breath. I've had that problem for over 10 years. And an echo and stress test two years ago showed that my heart is actually in great shape!

Of course, I'm no cardiologist, nor am I qualified in any other capacity to make a truly educated guess. This is just my understanding based on my own past research (chronic heart worrier here!) as well as multiple discussions about such things (e.g. CHF) with my primary doc and my cardiologist.

Please do mention these things to your doc when you go in. Hopefully that will ease these irrational worries.

[DeannaW 18]

2 hours ago, bin_tenn said:

You haven't mentioned anything that actually suggests CHF, IMO. This "swelling" you mention sounds more like typical weight rather than edema, which is often caused by heart failure. Edema associated with CHF is often "pitting edema", meaning 1) it is very visibly swollen, and 2) you can press on a swollen area and it leaves an indention. This is due to the fluid building up in places. And it's most often in the legs/feet. I often feel like my hands or feet are swollen, when they really are not.

Your heart rate dipping into the 50s during sleep also sounds very much normal to me. A resting heart rate in the 60s is fantastic! And you shouldn't worry about the even lower sleeping heart rate, IMO.

I also feel congested, somewhat, most mornings. When I get out of bed, it's often difficult or virtually impossible to take a really deep breath. I've had that problem for over 10 years. And an echo and stress test two years ago showed that my heart is actually in great shape!

Of course, I'm no cardiologist, nor am I qualified in any other capacity to make a truly educated guess. This is just my understanding based on my own past research (chronic heart worrier here!) as well as multiple discussions about such things (e.g. CHF) with my primary doc and my cardiologist.

Please do mention these things to your doc when you go in. Hopefully that will ease these irrational worries.

Thanks, bin_tenn! Was anyone ever able to tell you why you were congested in the morning? Maybe mine’s just allergies. I can get a deep breath, but it rattles a bit. I haven’t had regular old blood work done in a while so we’ll see what it says. Thanks for the advice!

[bin_tenn 1252]

10 minutes ago, DeannaW said:

Thanks, bin_tenn! Was anyone ever able to tell you why you were congested in the morning? Maybe mine’s just allergies. I can get a deep breath, but it rattles a bit. I haven’t had regular old blood work done in a while so we’ll see what it says. Thanks for the advice!

You're welcome. No, I've never really mentioned it to a doc, except one time. We didn't talk about it much, and she never gave a real answer. Like I said, I've had that for 10 years or so.

I get an occasional rattle in my chest on inhaling. That happens throughout any given day. Usually a small cough resolves it. I do believe mine is allergies as well, because if I take a Claritin every day, it's rare that it happens. As soon as I stop taking it, it happens a lot. Haha.

Let us know how your appointment goes. It sounds like you're just fine though.

[MARC 430]

I am congested in the morning from post nasal drip and sinus issues. A former tenant in my office building had CHF and his was due to being a heavy smoker, having emphysema and COPD. He was also pretty overweight and was 69 years old. 

[bin_tenn 1252]

39 minutes ago, MARC said:

I am congested in the morning from post nasal drip and sinus issues. A former tenant in my office building had CHF and his was due to being a heavy smoker, having emphysema and COPD. He was also pretty overweight and was 69 years old. 

His symptoms were probably more significant than "feeling" swollen, or "feeling" congested, too. From what I've heard/read over the years at least. Horrible coughing fits and the like.

[DeannaW 18]

2 hours ago, bin_tenn said:

You're welcome. No, I've never really mentioned it to a doc, except one time. We didn't talk about it much, and she never gave a real answer. Like I said, I've had that for 10 years or so.

I get an occasional rattle in my chest on inhaling. That happens throughout any given day. Usually a small cough resolves it. I do believe mine is allergies as well, because if I take a Claritin every day, it's rare that it happens. As soon as I stop taking it, it happens a lot. Haha.

Let us know how your appointment goes. It sounds like you're just fine though.

I hope so! Mine is usually first thing in the morning and a deep breath usually clears it out which I always thought was weird, but my doctor has said before that when you're lying down, all the fluid settles in your chest, which is what made me nervous. It's been like that for a while though. 

1 hour ago, MARC said:

I am congested in the morning from post nasal drip and sinus issues. A former tenant in my office building had CHF and his was due to being a heavy smoker, having emphysema and COPD. He was also pretty overweight and was 69 years old. 

Yeah, I definitely wouldn't really fit the profile for it, besides being a little overweight. Unless there was something congenital wrong that they just hadn't discovered yet, which I think is really where my worry comes from. My diet isn't great either, but I don't smoke or have diabetes that I'm aware of. What kills me is that when you google it (I know, I know), it lists all these symptoms, then just for funzies, it always says, "But some people with this condition have no symptoms at all!" So helpful. lol 

[bin_tenn 1252]

1 hour ago, DeannaW said:

I hope so! Mine is usually first thing in the morning and a deep breath usually clears it out which I always thought was weird, but my doctor has said before that when you're lying down, all the fluid settles in your chest, which is what made me nervous. It's been like that for a while though. 

Yeah, I definitely wouldn't really fit the profile for it, besides being a little overweight. Unless there was something congenital wrong that they just hadn't discovered yet, which I think is really where my worry comes from. My diet isn't great either, but I don't smoke or have diabetes that I'm aware of. What kills me is that when you google it (I know, I know), it lists all these symptoms, then just for funzies, it always says, "But some people with this condition have no symptoms at all!" So helpful. lol 

What made you nervous about your doc saying fluid settles in your chest when lying down? Not sure I understand what you're trying to say there.

Also, you mentioned that your heart rate seems to "increase quickly" when you exercise. I don't think this is any indication at all, of anything. The key is the recovery rate, which is how soon after exercise it begins returning to normal. I think it's supposed to drop, on average, by about 20 beats per minute until it gets to the resting rate. The more fit you are, the quicker it returns to normal, I believe. And 12 BPM or less recovery I think is what's considered abnormal.

Regardless, I don't think it's a bad idea to speak to your doc about your concerns. Not because anything stands out to me, but because you know you better than anyone else. And if nothing else, it may give you some peace of mind.

[DeannaW 18]

7 hours ago, bin_tenn said:

What made you nervous about your doc saying fluid settles in your chest when lying down? Not sure I understand what you're trying to say there.

Also, you mentioned that your heart rate seems to "increase quickly" when you exercise. I don't think this is any indication at all, of anything. The key is the recovery rate, which is how soon after exercise it begins returning to normal. I think it's supposed to drop, on average, by about 20 beats per minute until it gets to the resting rate. The more fit you are, the quicker it returns to normal, I believe. And 12 BPM or less recovery I think is what's considered abnormal.

Regardless, I don't think it's a bad idea to speak to your doc about your concerns. Not because anything stands out to me, but because you know you better than anyone else. And if nothing else, it may give you some peace of mind.

I’ve read that people with CHF have a harder time breathing when they’re lying down, so I guess it made me nervous that my symptoms would worsen after a period  of lying down. I’ve never actually considered what my heart rate is while recovering from exercising. Hmm. One more thing to analyze, I guess. Lol My trainer actually did mention once that my heart rate gets up there pretty fast, but he said as long as I’m not dizzy, it’s probably fine. I try not to push it over what my max HR should be though. This was also a few years ago, so I don’t know that it goes up as quickly now though. 

[bin_tenn 1252]

53 minutes ago, DeannaW said:

I’ve read that people with CHF have a harder time breathing when they’re lying down, so I guess it made me nervous that my symptoms would worsen after a period  of lying down. I’ve never actually considered what my heart rate is while recovering from exercising. Hmm. One more thing to analyze, I guess. Lol My trainer actually did mention once that my heart rate gets up there pretty fast, but he said as long as I’m not dizzy, it’s probably fine. I try not to push it over what my max HR should be though. This was also a few years ago, so I don’t know that it goes up as quickly now though. 

I understand. It's very possible to perceive shortness of breath when lying down due to many things other than CHF, too. I get that from time to time, and I've found that changing position fixes it, even if it's as simple as wiggling a little. Haha.

I definitely understand these fears, and these "what ifs", so you're certainly not alone. I know it's no fun! It's hard to accept that things aren't wrong when you sometimes feel so certain. That's just anxiety talking though; that's the only thing that's abnormal when we experience these things.