Congestive Heart Failure (CHF)

My husband, age 68,is stage 3 CHF too(up from stage 4) with chronic kidney disease stage 4)eGFR is 20, up from stage 5) and heart attack related-no dialysis). He takes 10mg Jardiance(empagliflozin) daily and 10mg Torsemide 2x/week. He has found that keeping his daily sodium low and monitoring his daily weight(alert is a weight gain of more than 2-3lbs in a 24 hour period or more than 5lbs in a week)is really important in controlling his CHF. He was near the end of the evaluation for a. heart and kidney transplant at the Cleveland Clinic last year when squamous cell cancer was found on the back of his tongue. He made it through radiation and monoclonal antibody therapy but it meant no transplants. Not easy, as you know, but he manages to golf 18 holes weekly and take his boat out to fish on the ocean when calm. So he’s done pretty well on the quality of life scale. Having it diagnosed at your age is much harder.

I'm sorry you are dealing with CHF at such a young age. I'm 81 and was recently diagnosed with CHF. Have not asked what stage I am. The medical establishments could not figure out what was wrong with me for 1 1/2 years
since I had no medical issues at all prior to this. All my vitals were great , no diabetes or obesity, don't smoke or drink, blood pressure perfect, No blockage in my arteries , my lungs were good etc. Anyway I am on 80 mg latex and 20 mg potassium. I can't walk my legs swell up and I take Metoprolol for Afib which I had for 22 years. I was prescribed another pill which gave me Vertigo. Now I'm waiting for a new prescription possibly Jardiance. I feel like a Guiney pig.
Good Luck to both of us,

Do you do home dialysis?
or any dialysis’s?
You have to measure ever fluids
My. Friend Denny
Had bad kidney
I took care of him I think I know
Some stuff

Hi @coryp,

Sorry to hear about your challenges...did you have an underlying condition that caused your CHF? I think any illness often takes more of an emotional toll. I worked in the Cancer Industry for 25+ years as a COO and Clinician and I think the emotional aspect was always a huge factor---often overlooked. Do you belong to any local face-to-face support groups?

@coryp

I didn't really know what congestive heart failure was before doing some reading just now. It sounds like a quite serious disease. In some of the literature I read, it said that if the cause is treatable, heart failure can go away. Other literature said there are treatments available that can help manage the symptoms and improve the quality of life. But in other literature it said it's not treatable. I guess it comes down to each individual's circumstance. I also read that "Since you can’t move backward through the heart failure stages, the goal of treatment is to keep you from moving forward through the stages or to slow down the progression of your heart failure."

What has your cardiologist been doing the last 4 years to help slow down progression? What do they think the underlying cause is? Is it genetic?

The following URL has a table showing the most common treatments for each stage of heart failure. On this page, it also says "The heart failure program at Penn Medicine is the largest on the East Coast with specialized cardiologists that are solely dedicated to treating you, or your loved ones living with heart failure, or its affects."
https://www.pennmedicine.org/updates/blogs/heart-and-vascular-blog/2022/july/heart-failure-classification--stages-of-heart-failure-and-their-treatments

The following URL also lists treatments by stage, but seems to recommend additional treatments at stage 3 (what they call stage C):

You might also send your cardiologist the link below related to current or upcoming clinical trials of CFH and see if he/she thinks any of these could be beneficial to you:

You might also do some reasch at the following reputable medical websites:

http://www.health.harvard.edu

I hope this helps and I hope for the best possible outcome for you.

Andy

(the formatting above leaves something to be desired. It seems to be ignoring my ENTER key entries.

I appreciate your response.
I just saw my cardiologist yesterday, my echo showed my blood flow is now
at 35, this is a good thing.
As far as I know , there is no cure and it is progressive due to the fact
it begins to disrupt other organs because of lack of blood flow.
I am on a medication regiment that keeps me somewhat balanced however I do
have bad days, sometimes weeks.
I will look into the research you sent me.
Thank you very much!

@coryp

You're welcome. You might also ask your cardiologist if there's any hard evidence that statins help with heart failure. Here are a couple of articles about studies of statins and CHF. Unfortunately, neither say statins conclusively help:

I do not, and yes it's an emotional roller coaster for sure.
Thank you

With CHF symptoms-SOB, fatigue, along with irregular heart rate, and preserved ejection factor, you should ask your physician to also test for cardiac amyloidosis