I Wake Up With My Heart Racing — Should I Be Worried?
Despite advances in treating heart disease, the number of U.S. deaths from heart failure is increasing. Understanding the treatment options is important for patients newly diagnosed with this cardiac problem.
Overview of Heart Failure
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 5.7 million American adults suffer from this condition. Within five years after receiving their diagnosis, around 50 percent of them die.
The National Center for Health Statistics reports that the rate of deaths linked to heart failures dropped from the 2000 rate of 103.1 per 100,000 to 89.5 nine years later. However, in 2014, it rose to 96.9.
In patients with this condition, the heart muscle fails to adequately pump blood to the various parts of the body. Often the problem is the result of other medical disorders, such as hypertension or coronary artery disease. Most failure starts in the left ventricle of the heart, the organ’s primary pumping chamber.
Although it is not possible to reverse all conditions that cause cardiac failure, the Mayo Clinic indicates that a variety of therapies help can help reduce symptoms and extend the life of some patients.
Treatment Options
A heart-failure patient suffers from a chronic condition that requires management by a physician throughout life. Treatment can lower the risk of sudden death in addition to extending life.
Cardiologists prescribe the following heart-failure treatments, depending on a patient’s circumstances:
- Medications: They include ACE inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor blockers, beta blockers, diuretics, aldosterone antagonists, isotropes, and digoxin. Some patients require more than one drug and/or need long-term supplemental oxygen therapy.
- Implantable devices: Physicians might implant cardioverter-defibrillators, which are similar to pacemakers, to monitor an individual’s heart rhythm. Biventricular pacemakers emit impulses to the heart ventricles to trigger more efficient pumping. Implanted heart pumps assist the organ in pumping and are useful in either one or both ventricles.
- Surgery: In addition to procedures to implant devices, the options include coronary bypass surgeries for blocked arteries, valve repairs or replacements, and heart transplants. Unfortunately, there is often a long wait for heart transplant candidates. Patients who are ineligible for a heart transplant or who cannot have one when needed sometimes rely on the insertion of heart pumps to extend their lives.
Making significant changes in lifestyle often helps lessen symptoms. Doctors typically request that patients:
- Give up smoking
- Get to and stay at a healthy weight
- Check regularly for swollen limbs
- Improve their diet
- Limit fluids, particularly those with alcohol
- Improve sleep habits
- Reduce stress
- Become more physically active
Despite trying a number of therapies, some patients eventually reach a point where medications become ineffective and neither an implantable device nor a transplant is a choice. Whether it occurs at home or in a residential facility, hospice care can provide the appropriate treatment for a patient who is terminally ill.
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